The Horsemen's Journal - Winter 2015

FALL 10WINTER 15

WWW.NATIONALHBPA.COM 1

28ALL ABOUT HAY Forage expert says misconceptions exist regarding different types of hay and their nutritional value

34THE LITTLE RACETRACK THAT COULDMichigan horsemen persevere to keep racing alive at Hazel Park

39CENTURIES OF PROGRESSHorse racing has long been a leader in the sporting world for its detection of drug use

44MEETING OF THE MINDSThe second Thoroughbred Owner Conference is set for January at Gulfstream Park

DEPARTMENTS

2

MESSAGE FROM THE NATIONAL HBPA

7

INDUSTRY NEWS

10HBPA NEWS

12

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

14

RESEARCH & MEDICATION UPDATE

16

MEDICATION COMMITTEE CORNER

182016 RACING SCHEDULE FOR NORTH AMERICA

47AFFILIATE NEWS

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FEATURES

21CASTELLANO’S CROWNGulfstream’s leading rider caps a big Claiming Crown day with a win on Royal Posse in the Jewel

2 HJWINTER 15

IN EVERY ISSUE

h jIN EVERY ISSUE

NATIONAL HBPA870 Corporate Drive

Suite 300Lexington, KY

40503P(859) 259-0451F(859) [email protected]

www.nationalhbpa.com

PRESIDENT/CHAIRPERSONOF THE BOARD

Leroy Gessmann

FIRST VICE PRESIDENT

Tom Metzen Sr.

SECRETARY/TREASURER

Lynne Schuller

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

OFFICER Eric J. Hamelback

VICE PRESIDENT

CENTRAL REGION

Tom Metzen Sr.

VICE PRESIDENT

EASTERN REGION

Robin Richards

VICE PRESIDENT SOUTHERN

REGION Rick Hiles

VICEPRESIDENT

WESTERN REGION

J. Lloyd Yother

MESSAGE FROM

THE CEOA LOT HAS HAPPENED SINCE THE MESSAGE I PRESENTED IN THE FALL ISSUE OF THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL. EVERY DAY HAS

BEEN ONE OF LEARNING FOR ME, AND I AM TRULY FEELING AND HEARING SUPPORT FROM MEMBERS ON THE CURRENT PATH

THAT THE NATIONAL HBPA IS ON. WE ARE CONTINUALLY IN PURSUIT OF AND DEFENDING HORSEMEN’S RIGHTS. WITHIN MY

SHORT TENURE WITH THE NHBPA, I FEEL WE ALREADY HAVE MADE GREAT STRIDES. THIS ORGANIZATION HAS BEEN ABLE TO

BENEFIT FROM SOME GREAT PUBLIC RECOGNITION THROUGH SPONSORSHIPS AND MEDIA RECOGNITION FROM OUR RECENT

PRESS RELEASES. WHILE WE CONTINUE TO FIGHT AND STAND IN OPPOSITION TO THE FEDERAL BILL, HR 3084, WHICH WOULD

PUT THE U.S. ANTI-DOPING AGENCY IN CHARGE OF RACING’S DRUG TESTING, WE HAVE ALSO BEEN ABLE TO WORK ON OTHER

PROJECTS AS WELL. STAYING IN COMMUNICATION HAS BEEN THE KEY.

Having just had the Breeders’ Cup here in Lexington for the first time, it presented a great opportunity for NHBPA President Leroy Gessmann and I to spend time shaking hands and discussing the positions held by the NHBPA with owners, trainers, veterinarians and industry officials from all over the country. I want to say a special thanks to Bryan Pettigrew of the Breeders’ Cup, who recognized the NHBPA as an industry leader and arranged tickets for us to attend.

This year’s Breeders’ Cup was truly a historic event and one in which anyone who was present or watching on television had to feel that they witnessed an amazing feat and one truly amazing horse in American Pharoah. I will also say that Keeneland and the team led by their President Bill Thomason did an absolutely amazing job. I can’t say that I have been to all of the Breeders’ Cup events or even to all the venues, but I cannot imagine the organization, hospitality and pageantry of racing being done any better than what we saw at Keeneland. I would like to issue a public congratulations to Bill Thomason and the entire Keeneland staff. Sincere congratulations on a job well done.

Speaking of a job well done, Gulfstream Park once again proved to be a superb host of the $1.1 million Claiming Crown, which despite less than perfect weather still handled more than $10 million, up slightly from last year. Thank you to the Florida HBPA for helping to make it all possible, and also thank you to our partner on the event, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. I’d also like to thank all the owners and trainers who practically overfilled the entry box on all nine Claiming Crown races, and of course, last but not least, thank you to the blue-collar horses who gave us a great day of racing and continue to do so on a daily basis at tracks around North America.

As we move into a new year, my hope and goals include tackling some new projects as well as stating and sometimes defending our positions within the industry. It is truly my belief that the NHBPA and our affiliates are poised to be a force that will institute change and progress for our beloved industry. My hope is to define the NHBPA as a true leader. But what is a leader, and who would you currently list as leaders of our industry? When I think of horse racing, I strongly believe that owners and trainers are the grassroots of racing, and I truly believe that change can be implemented through collaboration initiated by us. I am well aware that the “powerhouses” of racing are composed of those in and around Kentucky, but the sport’s fans and our supporters are located throughout the entire country. I’m

afraid I must confess that I am offended by many of the so-called leadership of those considered to be leaders of our industry and in how many of them have treated our business. It amazes me how so few, with so much control, have continually made such a mess of our sport, which has been such a historically important part of the American sporting life.

I can envision the NHBPA, through our affiliates, generating powerful influence to provide a positive outcome. I will continue to lead toward uniformity within our racing jurisdictions on a basis that we can endorse. It is a must for all of us to continue to demand that our leaders be those within our industry that have skin in the game. We must emphatically insist that the Interstate Horseracing Act (IHA) be left in the hands of the horsemen and not turned over to anyone outside its confines.

My goal is to work and collaborate with others as we move toward uniformity in which the standards are established and based upon scientific methods, leading to fairly established thresholds that can be phased in for the protection of horsemen. We also need to work toward other elements that will better serve the survival of the sport, such as fair revenue sharing arrangements for horsemen with this new surge of fantasy and online games. We should be focusing ourselves on our horsemen’s media rights and the avenues that utilize replays without our consent, more than focusing on perceptions established through misguided media.

Fighting for fair taxation for horsemen so that our industry can be treated as the real business that it is should be a focus instead of defending exaggerated implications that have no substantial evidence propagated by the media. Leading a charge for fair and safe immigration practices that can aid our workforce should be a focus for our entire industry instead of wasting energy on defending our rights against powerful corporate entities who continually act as if our rights as horsemen do not matter.

We must continue to be sharp and focused on all fronts, both on the state/province and national levels. That is how I define a leader—through experience, initiative and hard work. I promise that I will work to prove that also defines the members of the HBPA.

SINCERELY,Eric J. Hamelback


THE NATIONAL

HBPA WOULD LIKE TO

THANK ITS CORPORATE

sponsors

The views expressed on these pages are those of the authors and/or advertisers, and they may or may not reflect the positions and/or beliefs of the National Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, its officers, or Board of Directors.

The Horsemen’s Journal, Volume 62 #4.Postal Information: The Horsemen’s Journal (ISSN 0018-5256) is published quarterly by the

National Horsemen’s Administration Corporation, with publishing offices at P.O. Box 8645, Round Rock, TX 78683. Copyright 2015 all rights reserved.

The Horsemen’s Journal is the official publication for members of the Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, a representative association of Thoroughbred owners and trainers. HBPA is a non-profit 501(c)6 Kentucky corporation. Members receive The Horsemen’s Journal as a benefit of membership paid by the national office from affiliate dues. Annual non-member subscriptions are $14. Single-copy back issues, if available, are $7. Canadian subscribers add $6. All other subscriptions

outside the U.S. add $20 payable in U. S. funds. To order reprints or subscriptions, call (866) 245-1711.

The HBPA National Board of Directors has determined that the publication of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of the public business required of the association. Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and/or advertisers and do not necessarily represent the opinion or policy of the publisher or HBPA board or staff. Query the editor prior to sending any manuscripts.

Periodicals Postage Paid at Round Rock, Texas and additional mailing offices.CANADA POST: Publications mail agreement no. 41530527. Return undeliverable

Canadian addresses to: P. O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4R6.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Horsemen’s Journal, P.O. Box 911188, Lexington,

KY 40591-1188.

AFFILIATESBoard of Directors - AffiliatesDr. David Harrington, Alabama

J. Lloyd Yother, ArizonaLinda Gaston, ArkansasDavid Milburn, Canada

Randy Funkhouser, Charles TownKent Bamford, Colorado

Dave Brown, Finger LakesWilliam White, FloridaMarta Loveland, Idaho

John Wainwright, IllinoisJoe Davis, Indiana

Leroy Gessmann, IowaRick Hiles, Kentucky

Benard Chatters, LouisianaGeorge Kutlenios, Michigan

Tom Metzen, MinnesotaR.C. Forster, Montana

Jami Poole, Mountaineer ParkBarry Lake, Nebraska

Anthony Spadea, New EnglandMark Doering, Ohio

David Faulkner, OklahomaSue Leslie, OntarioRon Sutton, Oregon

Sandee Martin, PennsylvaniaRobert Jeffries, Tampa Bay Downs

Dr. Tommy Hays, Texas Horsemen’s Partnership, LLPDavid Ross, Virginia

Pat LePley, WashingtonGlade VanTassel, Wyoming

CONTRIBUTORSDr. Steven A. Barker Dr. Clara FengerBrian W. FitzgeraldTammy A. GanttRich Halvey Judy L. MarchmanDr. Gary Norwood Denise SteffanusKent H. StirlingDr. Thomas Tobin

PHOTOGRAPHERSAckerley ImagesDenis BlakeCoglianese PhotosiStockphoto/©ElMiguelachoiStockphoto/©FokinOliStockphoto/©magbugJudy MarchmanJana Tetrault

STAFFDenis BlakeEditor512-695-4541E-mail: [email protected]

Jennifer Vanier AllenAdvertising Director512-225-4483509-272-1640 faxE-mail: [email protected]

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THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL870 Corporate Drive, Suite 300Lexington, KY 40503-5419Phone: 512-695-4541Fax: 859-259-0452E-mail: [email protected]

HBPA Website: www.nationalhbpa.com

Cover Photo: Royal Posse wins the $200,000Claiming Crown JewelCoglianese Photos/Leslie Martin

LIVE RACING DAY SIMULCASTING DAY

APRIL

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MARCH

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FEBRUARY

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901 S. Federal Highway I Hallandale Beach, FL 33009 I gulfstreampark.com

2 0 1 5 - 2 0 1 6 S T A K E S S C H E D U L EDECEMBERDATE STAKES CONDITIONS DIST/TURF PURSE

12.5.15 Jewel (Claiming Crown) 3yo & up 1 1/8 M $200K

Tiara (Claiming Crown) 3yo & up (F&M) 1 1/16 M (T) $125K

Emerald (Claiming Crown) 3yo & up 1 1/16 M (T) $125K

Iron Horse (Claiming Crown) 3yo & up 1 1/16 M $110K

Express (Claiming Crown) 3yo & up 6 F $110K

Glass Slipper (Claiming Crown) 3yo & up (F&M) 1 M $110K

Rapid Transit (Claiming Crown) 3yo & up 7 F $110K

Canterbury (Claiming Crown) 3yo & up 5 F (T) $110K

Distaff Dash (Claiming Crown) 3yo & up (F&M) 5 F (T) $110K

12.12.15 El Prado 3yo & up 7 1/2 F (T) $100K

South Beach 3yo & up (F&M) 7 1/2 F (T) $100K

Harlan's Holiday 3yo & up 1 1/16 M (T) $100K

Rampart (G3) 3yo & up (F&M) 1 M $100K

12.19.15 Mr Prospector (G3) 3yo & up 6 F $100K

Tropical Park Derby 3yo 1 1/16 M (T) $75K

Tropical Park Oaks 3yo F 1 1/16 M (T) $75K

12.26.15 Sugar Swirl (G3) 3yo & up (F&M) 6 F $100K

W.L. McKnight Hdcp (G3) 3yo & up 1 1/2 M (T) $100K

La Prevoyante Hdcp (G3) 3yo & up (F&M) 1 1/2 M (T) $100K

JANUARYDATE STAKES CONDITIONS DIST/TURF PURSE

1.2.16 Hutcheson (G3) 3yo 6 F $100K

Old Hat (G3) 3yo F 6 F $100K

Dania Beach (G3) 3yo 7 1/2 F (T) $100K

Ginger Brew 3yo F 7 1/2 F (T) $100K

Mucho Macho Man 3yo 1 M $100K

1.9.16 Fort Lauderdale (G2) 4yo & up 1 1/16 M (T) $200K

Marshua's River (G3) 4yo & up (F&M) 1 1/16 M (T) $150K

Hal's Hope (G3) 4yo & up 1 M $150K

1.16.16 Sunshine Millions Classic 4yo & up 1 1/8 M $250K

Sunshine Millions Distaff 4yo & up (F&M) 7 F $150K

Sunshine Millions Turf 4yo & up 1 1/16 M (T) $100K

Sunshine Millions F&M Turf 4yo & up (F&M) 1 1/16 M (T) $100K

Sunshine Millions Sprint 4yo & up 6 F $100K

Sunshine Millions Turf Sprint 4yo & up 5 F (T) $100K

1.23.16 H Allen Jerkens 4yo & up 2 M (T) $100K

1.30.16 Holy Bull (G2) 3yo 1 1/16 M $350K

Forward Gal (G2) 3yo F 7 F $200K

Swale (G3) 3yo 7 F $150K

Sweetest Chant (G3) 3yo F 1 M (T) $100K

Kitten's Joy 3yo 1 M (T) $100K

FEBRUARYDATE STAKES CONDITIONS DIST/TURF PURSE

2.6.16 Donn Hdcp (G1) 4yo & up 1 1/8 M $500K

Gulfstream Park Turf Hdcp (G1) 4yo & up 1 1/8 M (T) $350K

Suwannee River (G3) 4yo & up (F&M) 1 1/8 M (T) $150K

Fred Hooper (G3) 4yo & up 1 M $100K

Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint 4yo & up 5 F (T) $75K

Ladies Turf Sprint 4yo & up (F&M) 5 F (T) $75K

2.13.16 Royal Delta (G2) 4yo & up (F&M) 1 1/16 M $200K

2.20.16 Melody of Colors 3yo F 5 F (T) $75K

2.27.16 Fountain of Youth (G2) 3yo 1 1/16 M $400K

Davona Dale (G2) 3yo F 1 M $200K

Canadian Turf (G3) 4yo & up 1 M (T) $150K

Palm Beach (G3) 3yo 1 1/16 M (T) $150K

Herecomesthebride (G3) 3yo F 1 1/16 M (T) $150K

Gulfstream Park Sprint (G3) 4yo & up 6 1/2 F $100K

Sand Springs 4yo & up (F&M) 1 M (T) $100K

Texas Glitter 3yo 5 F (T) $75K

MARCHDATE STAKES CONDITIONS DIST/TURF PURSE

3.5.16 Gulfstream Park Hdcp (G2) 4yo & up 1 M $500K

Mac Diarmida (G2) 4yo & up 1 3/8 M (T) $200K

Very One (G3) 4yo & up (F&M) 1 3/16 M (T) $150K

3.12.16 Captiva Island 4yo & up (F&M) 5 F (T) $75K

Silks Run 4yo & up 5 F (T) $75K

3.19.16 Inside Information (G2) 4yo & up (F&M) 7 F $200K

Any Limit 3yo F 6 F $75K

Spectacular Bid 3yo 6 1/2 F $75K

3.26.16 Cutler Bay 3yo 1 M (T) $75K

Sanibel Island 3yo F 1 M (T) $75K

APRILDATE STAKES CONDITIONS DIST/TURF PURSE

4.2.16 Florida Derby (G1) 3yo 1 1/8 M $1M

Honey Fox (G2) 4yo & up (F&M) 1 M (T) $300K

Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) 3yo F 1 1/16 M $250K

Appleton (G3) 4yo & up 1 M (T) $200K

Pan American (G3) 4yo & up 1 1/2 M (T) $200K

Orchid (G3) 4yo & up (F&M) 1 3/8 M (T) $200K

Skip Away (G3) 4yo & up 1 1/8 M $150K

Sir Shackelton 4yo & up 7 F $100K

Highlighted dates denote premium stake days. Racing dates are subject to change.

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BREEDERS’ CUP PRODUCES RECORD ATTENDANCE AT KEENELAND; HANDLE FLAT, TV RATINGS SOAR

THE JOCKEY CLUB RELEASES 2014 BREEDING STATISTICS, 2015 REPORT OF MARES BRED

The first ever running of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Keeneland Race Course produced record numbers at the turnstiles, solid results at the betting windows and a memorable conclusion to the career of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah with a dominant performance in the marquee

race of the October 30-31 event, the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).

The Lexington track easily accommodated Breeders’ Cup guests from around the world over the two days with 50,155 on hand Saturday, a record attendance for

Keeneland, on top of 44,947 on Friday, both a Keeneland record that stood for one day and a record attendance for a Breeders’ Cup Friday.

And the racing itself did not disappoint. Zayat Stable’s American Pharoah became horse racing’s first Grand Slam winner, ending his career by gliding to a 6 ½-length victory over Keeneland’s main track for trainer Bob Baffert. Popular sprinter Runhappy set a new track record in the TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1), and accomplished fillies Found (Ire) and Tepin won the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1), respectively, against males.

The two-day all-sources handle for the Friday and Saturday cards of the 32nd Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland totaled $155.5 million, down from $159.4 million last year, in part because no pari-mutuel wagering on the event took place in Hong Kong this year. Common-pool wagering on the October 31, 12-race Breeders’ Cup card was $105,625,491, a slight decrease (0.3 percent) from the 2014 handle of $105,979,062. The on-track handle for the two days at Keeneland was $20,663,054, up 2.5 percent over the $20,117,488 on-track handle at Santa Anita Park in 2014.

The two-day total attendance of 95,102 was a slight decrease over the prior year. Breeders’ Cup officials said that ticket revenue for the event more than doubled over 2014 due primarily to the demand for high-end hospitality areas at Keeneland, many created especially for the Breeders’ Cup.

“This was a day that people will look back on and tell people they were here, and it’s exactly why the Breeders’ Cup was created, to showcase the very best of our sport,” said Breeders’ Cup President and CEO Craig Fravel. “We’re thrilled with the crowd over both days, the strong business levels and our gracious hosts here at Keeneland and the greater Lexington area.”

The broadcast of American Pharoah’s victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on NBC posted a 2.63/6 overnight rating, the best for the race since 2010. The overnight rating was up 46 percent from last year’s NBC primetime telecast (1.80/3). The top markets for NBC’s Breeders’ Cup broadcast were Louisville (8.6/17), New Orleans (6.1/9), Cincinnati (5.4/12), Dayton (4.7/9) and Indianapolis (4.5/10).

INDUSTRY NEWS

According to The Jockey Club, 2,103 stallions covered 37,244 mares in North America during 2014, based on statistics compiled through mid-September 2015. These breedings have resulted in 22,104 live foals of 2015 being reported to The Jockey Club on Live Foal Reports. The Jockey Club estimates that the number of live foals reported so far is approximately 90 percent complete. The

reporting of live foals of 2015 is up 1.9 percent from last year at this time when the organization had received reports for 21,697 live foals of 2014.

The Jockey Club has also received 2,598 No Foal Reports for the 2015 foaling season. Ultimately, the 2015 registered foal crop is projected to reach 22,000.

The number of stallions declined 5.7 percent from the 2,230 reported for 2013 at this time last year, while the number of mares bred increased 1.6 percent from the 36,656 reported for 2013. The 2014 breeding statistics are available alphabetically by stallion name through the Resources/Fact Book link at jockeyclub.com.

“The breeding statistics are the number of live foals by conception area, regardless of where the foals were born,” said Matt Iuliano, executive vice president and executive director of The Jockey Club. “The statistics do not represent live foals actually born in each state or province, and they do not represent the fertility record of any stallion.”

Kentucky annually leads all states and provinces in terms of Thoroughbred breeding activity. Kentucky-based stallions accounted for 45.9 percent of the mares reported bred in North America in 2013 and 53.6 percent of the live foals reported for 2014. The 17,088 mares reported bred to 256 Kentucky stallions in 2014 have produced 11,853 live foals, a 6.9 percent increase on the 11,089 Kentucky-sired live foals of 2014 reported at this time last year. The number of mares reported bred to Kentucky stallions in 2014 increased 7.8 percent compared to the 15,857 reported for 2013 at this time last year.

The Jockey Club also released Report of Mares Bred (RMB) statistics for the 2015 breeding season. Based on RMBs received through mid-October, The Jockey Club reports that 1,449 stallions covered 34,627 mares in North America during 2015. Based upon historical reporting trends, The Jockey Club estimates an additional 2,000 to 3,000 mares will be reported as bred during the 2015 breeding season. The number of mares bred increased 0.3 percent from the 34,540 reported at this time last year.

The stallion Uncle Mo led all stallions with 221 mares bred in 2015. Rounding out the top five were Scat Daddy, 217; Into Mischief, 210; Shanghai Bobby, 202; and Temple City, 199.

During 2015, Kentucky’s 208 reported stallions covered 17,448 mares, or 50.4 percent of all of the mares reported bred in North America. The number of mares bred to Kentucky stallions increased 3.7 percent compared with the 16,826 reported at this time last year.

Triple Crown winner American Pharoah helped boost attendance and TV ratings for the Breeders’ Cup.

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’ Cup

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NEWS

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Horse racing network TVG announced that HRTV, which it acquired in February 2015, was being rebranded as TVG2, effective October 28. Correspondingly, HRTV.com will be renamed TVG2.com. The move allows TVG to better leverage its television production infrastructure to provide improved horse racing television

products to consumers and television distributors alike.Already since the merger of TVG and HRTV, dramatic improvements in

televised horse racing have occurred. Both networks output their signal in high-definition, using TVG’s state-of-the-art television studios in Los Angeles, and TVG and TVG2 are on track to televise more than 40,000 live races in the first year after the merger, compared to less than 30,000 unique live races prior to the transaction.

TVG has developed and implemented a system with premium track operators that allows for post time coordination across the country and real-time track-to-track alerts of late post time changes, significantly improving the viewer experience. TVG also is simulcasting its programming on TVG2 during

hours when live racing was not previously available on that network (leading to 396 hours of additional live racing programming on TVG2 or more than 1,000 additional live races).

“We’ve made good progress in integrating the two television productions, and integrating the brands was the logical next step in the process to optimize television coverage for horse racing,” TVG CEO Kip Levin said. “Our goals have always been to provide a better fan experience, increase our appeal to distributors, and drive revenue to the industry. Importantly, having TVG and TVG2 allows us to better utilize TVG’s state-of-the-art television facilities to deliver a premium product for both networks. We look forward to continuing to work with our important track and distribution partners to deliver more races and higher quality broadcasts to racing fans like never before.”

The aggregate audience of TVG and TVG2 has grown to 56 million homes, all of which can now access more live racing than ever before. The combined social media reach of TVG and TVG2 is now over one million people, helping to drive viewers and wagering.

“Our content and reach means we can help the sport directly grow viewing and legal wagering numbers,” Levin added.

TVG REBRANDING HRTV AS TVG2

RTCA RECOGNIZES WINNERS, NEED FOR TEAMWORK

INDUSTRY NEWS

On October 29, the Race Track Chaplaincy of America (RTCA) presented Eric Najduch with the White Horse Award, which recognizes a person who has done something heroic for another human or a horse.

Najduch, who was raised in Michigan, became an outrider at Los Alamitos Race Course in 2011 and later earned an assistant trainer’s license. He has served as the official horse identifier at Los Alamitos since 2014, the same year he rescued an

American Quarter Horse from an infield lake.One night, two horses broke through the starting gate prior to a race,

and while the filly Feel Wanted was quickly corralled, Walk the Dog ran into the infield and ended up in the lake. Najduch reacted immediately. He sprinted to the infield, jumped into the lake and grabbed Walk the Dog so the horse could be sedated and removed from the water.

During the RTCA awards luncheon in Lexington, Kentucky, Najduch honored the outriders who are charged with keeping horses and jockeys safe on the track.

“We always joke that it’s the only job where if you have an absolutely busy day, it’s wonderful, but you pray for boring and you pray no one gets hurt,” Najduch said. “I’m just thankful for the opportunity to give back. I’ve always had huge respect for outriders. For you to be here is a testament to the men and women every day out there doing that job. It’s a thankless job. Without them we don’t have a safe racetrack.”

8 HJWINTER 15


Najduch was one of several people honored this year by the RTCA, which is based in Lexington. Equine artist Robert Clark won the Community Service Award for making significant contributions to chaplaincy programs; Patsy Payne, who died earlier this year, was honored with the Tribute to Excellence Award for her years of assisting people and spreading the gospel at Remington Park; and James “Ted” Bassett III, the former Keeneland president who played a role in the early development of chaplaincy programs, received the Horace W. “Salty” Roberts Founder’s Award.

Bassett said Roberts, whose vision was to establish a chaplaincy at every racetrack, should be the winner of the award because he “never met anyone

more committed and dedicated to the cause.” Bassett also made a point to note the importance of the RTCA.

“It’s underfunded, underappreciated and under-supported, and it’s not given the magnitude of help that it needs,” Bassett said. “It’s really the bridge from the frontside to the backside to serve the needs of the racing industry.”

The RTCA also recognized Ahmed and Justin Zayat of Zayat Stables for being ambassadors for Thoroughbred racing with Triple Crown winner American Pharoah this year.

Organizers of the TCA Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, held at the Kentucky Horse Park October

23-25, called the event a success. The event, part of the Retired Racehorse Project, is designed to expose people to Thoroughbred aftercare by featuring former racehorses that now participate in other disciplines.

The 8-year-old mare Soar, owned and ridden by Ontario, Canada-based trainer Lindsay Partridge, took top honors as America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred and the winner’s share of the $100,000 prize money. Soar competed in the competitive trail and freestyle divisions at the horse park.

By Trajectory out of the Mt. Livermore mare Pyrenee, Soar was bred in Ontario and sold as a yearling for $32,795. She went on to win nine times, mostly competing in lower-level claiming events.

Partridge has built much of her professional training career out of finding retired racehorses, training them in the discipline she feels suits them best and selling them to riders looking for dependable show or recreational mounts. She found Soar via a picture on Facebook.

“I heard about the Thoroughbred Makeover and wanted to find a horse to compete in it with because I thought it sounded like a really fun way to promote

the Thoroughbred breed,” Partridge said. “I liked the look of [Soar], so I contacted the seller and bought her. I’m actually a jumper rider at heart, but I wanted to show off my horse’s best attributes.”

Godolphin Stable brought a contingent of 20 Thoroughbred aftercare and welfare professionals from Australia, England, France, Ireland, Japan and the United States to Lexington for the competition and symposium.

“What a huge showing of Thoroughbreds performing in so many different disciplines this weekend, from the tight turns of the polo, barrel and ranch horses; the scope of the show and field hunters, jumpers and eventers; the gracefulness of the dressage horses; bravery of trail horses; and just the trainability of the freestyle competitors,” Retired Racehorse Project President Steuart Pittman said. “This weekend was a coming together of people from so many segments of the horse business with interests in the Thoroughbred.”

The event, which began in Maryland, was held in Kentucky for the first time this year. Organizers said some of the Thoroughbreds on the grounds for the event changed hands as part of a marketplace program. Horses were paraded in front of prospective buyers and ridden in small groups for the audience as their pedigrees, skills and selling attributes were discussed by an announcer.

For more information, go to retiredracehorseproject.org.

TCA THOROUGHBRED MAKEOVER AND NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM A SUCCESS

Deni

s Bl

ake

10 HJWINTER 15

NATIONAL HBPA MISSION STATEMENT

NATIONAL HBPA’S POSITION REGARDING THE REGULATION OF RACING MEDICATION

Founded in 1940, the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) and its affiliates operate on behalf of Thoroughbred racehorse owners, trainers and backstretch personnel throughout the United States and Canada. Our mission is to improve and preserve Thoroughbred horse racing by:

1. Providing a representative voice for all Thoroughbred horsemen on matters integral to the advancement of Thoroughbred racing in the United States, Canada and at the state level.

2. Encouraging the highest standards of horsemanship to continuously improve the care, health and safety of the horse.

3. Facilitating guidelines to ensure the safety of the jockeys, trainers, grooms, exercise riders, hot walkers, farriers, veterinarians and all others who regularly come in contact with the racehorse.

4. Supporting the development, adoption, implementation and enforcement of nationwide uniform rules which promote safety and integrity in racing.

5. Disseminating information on critical issues facing our industry to HBPA affiliates and to the general public as appropriate.

6. Supporting and promoting programs and entities which provide general benevolence and other beneficial programs for affiliates and members.

7. Assisting in the development of programs at affiliated tracks providing for the aftercare of our horses when their racing careers are over.

8. Promoting the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing.

1. 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, hot walkers, trainers and veterinarians.

2. The National HBPA believes a truly independent and transparent Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) composed of industry stakeholders (including the NHBPA, The Jockey Club, the United States Trotting Association and Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, among others) not dominated by any individual organization, with input from appropriate medical and veterinary professional bodies such as the American Association of Equine Practitioners, must be the final evaluator of medical and veterinary science.

3. The National HBPA believes that RMTC approved medication rules should be reviewed by the Association of Racing Commissioners

International on behalf of state racing commissions, and following an evaluation based on science and medical research with all industry stakeholders being heard, the rules should be adopted or rejected by a majority vote.

4. The National HBPA contends that uniform medication rules must be based solely 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.

5. The National HBPA believes that RMTC and ISO-17025 accredited laboratories should perform all medication testing.

6. The National HBPA does not tolerate cheating in this sport. The NHBPA supports rules wherein repeat offenders of medication rules, after due process, should be severely penalized, including permanent expulsion from the industry.

h jNEWS HBPA NEWS

NATIONAL HBPA WINTER CONVENTION SET FOR FEBRUARY 3-7 IN FLORIDAThe National HBPA Winter Convention is set to return to the Sheraton Sand

Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida, on February 3-7, 2016. The event will be hosted by the Tampa Bay Downs HBPA, which put on a fine show for horsemen at the same location in 2013.

The convention will kick off with a poolside cocktail party on Wednesday night followed by three days of meetings and forums, plus an afternoon of racing hosted by Tampa Bay Downs. The event will conclude on Sunday morning with a meeting of the full NHBPA Board of Directors.

The upscale oceanfront hotel features patios or balconies with many rooms offering ocean views. There’s also access to a private beach, a fitness center and an outdoor pool. The NHBPA has negotiated a special rate of $205/night for single occupancy, $220/night for double occupancy, $235/night for

triple occupancy and $250/night for quad occupancy with breakfast included. Reservations can be made through hbpa.org or by phone at (800) 456-7263 with group code HBPA.

“I really encourage all members to attend this convention,” said Eric Hamelback, CEO of the NHBPA. “In addition to featuring a picturesque location and an outing to one of the nation’s finest racetracks, we plan to offer a diverse schedule of forums that will educate and inform while also providing opportunities for horsemen to give input on how the NHBPA addresses issues such as medication, revenue sharing and racing dates.”

Convention registration is $350 for members and $150 for spouses and significant others. For more information and to register, go to hbpa.org or call (859) 259-0451.


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Each member additional insured has their own $1,000,000 coverage for each occurrence or o�ense and $2,000,000 general aggregate. Damage to premises rented to you or occupied by you with the permission of the owner is provided with a limit of $50,000. Medical Payments coverage applies as well in the amount of $5,000 per person.

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NATI

ONAL

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A LE

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PDAT

E

By B

rian

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AS OF PRESS TIME FOR THIS ISSUE, THE U.S. CONGRESS WAS STILL IN SESSION AND WAS EXPECTED TO REMAIN IN SESSION WELL INTO DECEMBER. THERE ARE SEVERAL ISSUES AFFECTING HORSEMEN, INCLUDING MEDICATION AND TAX PROVISIONS THAT COULD BE ADDRESSED BY CONGRESS BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR. In the interest of providing the most current and accurate information for National HBPA members, the legislation update that normally would be printed in this issue instead will be available on the NHBPA blog at nationalhbpa.blogspot.com. The National HBPA’s lobbyist, Brian Fitzgerald, will provide an online update as events warrant in December and/or January. Members can also sign up on the blog to receive email notifications when new information is posted.

GET ALL THE HOT NEWS!SUBSCRIBE TO THE NATIONAL HBPA BLOG

GO TO: HTTP://NATIONALHBPA.BLOGSPOT.COM/

CLICK ON “Subscribe by Email”

AND ENTER your email address

AND CLICK ON “Complete Subscription Request”

CLICK ON “Subscribe in a Reader” and then click on the reader you use to choose it. Next, follow the instructions of your reader to complete your subscription.

OR

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“...Mainstream buyers are paying more attention to New York”

"We enjoy running in the New York-bred program. The purses are so good for them, and the horses can

actually pay for themselves (on the racetrack)." Mandy Pope© 2015 Blood-Horse Daily. Reprinted with permission.

“New York-breds now have more earning potential than their Kentucky counterparts.”

© 2015 Blood-Horse Daily. Reprinted with permission.

Breed, Buy and Race NY-Breds

12 HJWINTER 15

GET ALL THE HOT NEWS!SUBSCRIBE TO THE NATIONAL HBPA BLOG

GO TO: HTTP://NATIONALHBPA.BLOGSPOT.COM/

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h j RESEARCH+MEDICATION UPDATETECH

NOLO

GY

The Equine Microbiome Project is led by the Biddle Laboratory in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Department of Animal and Food Sciences, and the project is highlighted as part of

the Development and Alumni Relations Crowdfunding site.Amy Biddle, assistant professor of animal and food sciences,

said that gut health is of the utmost importance to horses. For horses, a bellyache can be a life-threatening event. Colic is the leading cause of death after old age, and laminitis causes irreversible lameness. Both conditions are associated with changes in the bacteria in the hindgut due to factors such as dietary disruption, seasonal changes, stress or age. Both can be chronic, creating management challenges for horse owners and veterinarians.

“Horses’ digestive systems are very sensitive to changes, stress or diet,” Biddle said. “As we’re learning in the human microbiome, there is a constant conversation between the gut microbes and the host, but there hasn’t been a large-scale effort to understand those conversations and those relationships in horses.

There have been several smaller studies, but in terms of a large-scale effort, there really isn’t any large study. What we’re hoping to do is to get as many samples as possible, from all over the country. So far people have been very generous.”

The lab is hoping to get samples from hundreds of horses across the country, and as samples come in, researchers will extract DNA and do sequencing to correlate those sequences with the data that they obtain from the owners. The horses will then be grouped by age, gender, breed, geographic location, diet, exercise and stress level.

Among the questions researchers are trying to answer is what the “normal” gut microbiome is for healthy horses and if the gut microbiome changes as horses age. As the project’s crowdfunding webpage explains, identifying the microbiome differences associated with health and disease is a necessary first step to designing therapies and/or interventions to restore balance and function to the digestive system of colicky or chronically laminitic horses.

For more information or to donate or participate in the project, visit https://udel.givecorps.com/projects/5849-equine-microbiome-project.

Researchers at the University of Delaware are looking to horse owners across the country for help as they try to tackle the fundamental questions behind the role of bacteria in the horse gut with regard to health and disease.

The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) issued the following statement after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned an earlier ruling that would have allowed cloned horses to be registered with the breed association:

RESEARCHERS SEEK HORSE OWNERS’ HELP IN PROJECT

EXAMINING GUT HEALTH

AQHA PREVAILS IN CLONING LAWSUIT

On October 26, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit entered an order denying the plaintiffs’ petition for rehearing of

the opinion that rendered judgment for the American Quarter Horse Association in the cloning lawsuit. Specifically, that opinion held that the plaintiffs’ evidence did not prove a conspiracy to restrain trade and that “AQHA is not a competitor in the allegedly relevant market for elite Quarter Horses.”

“We are delighted with this decision,” said Craig Huffhines, AQHA executive vice president. “Our staff and legal teams have devoted countless hours fighting for our members’ rights, and we’re grateful for the Fifth Circuit’s decision that leaves intact the well-reasoned opinion in AQHA’s favor.”

The denial for a rehearing followed the January opinion in favor of AQHA.

“We always knew our case was sound,” said AQHA Executive Vice President Don Treadway about that decision. “Obviously, this decision lifts a huge burden from the shoulders of our association, and we are relieved to finally have a judgment in our favor.”

Although the decision only applies to Quarter Horses and AQHA, officials with The Jockey Club were following the case closely as it could affect other breed registries.

“We’re very pleased with the result and we want to congratulate our friends at the American Quarter Horse Association for their excellent defense,” James Gagliano, president and chief operating officer of The Jockey Club told Thoroughbred Daily News. “It was the right decision and it was a just decision.”

Gagliano said The Jockey Club has not had any requests to allow for the cloning of Thoroughbreds.

“For us, nothing in this ruling indicates that our rules need to be examined or changed,” he added. “A foal resulting from cloning is not and will not be eligible for registration with The Jockey Club. This ruling is very supportive.”

14 HJWINTER 15

HJ Ad_Layout 1 11/10/15 9:47 AM Page 1


16 HJWINTER 15

MEDICATION COMMITTEE CORNERh jMEDICAL National

HBPA

THOSE “SUCCESSFUL” NON-LASIX RACES IN FLORIDABy Kent H. Stirling

Back in mid-July, much was made about those Lasix/Salix-free 2-year-old races run at Gulfstream Park. Those publications with Jockey Club leanings or outright Jockey Club ownership were quick to point out how the horsemen, given their own choice, entered so many horses in the “non-Lasix” races that they had to split each of the divisions.

It’s true. Those 4 ½-furlong races did have to be split, attracting 18 entries for the boys and 23 entries for the girls. So then The Jockey Club is correct in that good horsemen want to race without Lasix, right? If this weren’t true, why did these non-Lasix races have to be split into two divisions when the normal 2-year-old races that permit Lasix did not have enough entries to be split?

Well, the answer is simple, and it has nothing at all to do with Lasix. These non-Lasix races carried much higher purses than normal 2-year-old maiden special weight races. In fact, the purse was more than 35 percent higher ($65,000 versus $48,000) if you compared gross purses between those offered for non-Lasix races and those where Lasix was permitted. If you went to the base or net purse that a non-Florida-bred would be racing for, the non-Lasix race carried a purse 53 percent higher ($55,000 versus $36,000) than the normal maiden race that permitted the use of Lasix. You didn’t read that in those articles, did you?

By mid-August, the non-Lasix races were back with purses not as grand as before. They were only 23 percent higher in both gross and net. The filly six-furlong race had 12 entries, and the same race for the boys had only seven entries.

In early September, the purses for non-Lasix races were now the same as those that permitted Lasix. Four non-Lasix races were written that week, a five-furlong turf race and a six-furlong dirt race for fillies and the same two races for the boys. The entries for these races were seven, eight, nine and … one race didn’t go!

On September 26 and October 3, four more non-Lasix races were written. The same two races were written for 2-year-old colts and geldings and for

2-year-old fillies. The races were a mile on the turf, which both went, and a mile on the dirt, which went for the boys but not the fillies. Another non-Lasix race that did not go!

On October 24 and 25, four more non-Lasix races were offered that should have filled pretty easily. The non-Lasix races were six furlongs on the dirt and five furlongs on the turf for both the boys and the girls. Remember, the purses are now the same for non-Lasix races as they are for those races in which Lasix is permitted, and either a strange thing happened or the expected happened but none of them filled, so there were no 2-year-old maiden special weight races that weekend.

Trainers obviously waited for the next weekend when two races for colts and geldings went with eight on the dirt and 13 on the turf. Nine fillies appeared on the overnight for a five-furlong turf race, and all three of these races were run with Lasix permitted.

The following weekend had two more Lasix-permitted races, both at 5 ½ furlongs on the dirt. The colt and gelding race had 13 entries while 11 fillies entered for a race with similar conditions.

So, what did we learn from this exercise? Well, it seems, if offered the same races on both turf and dirt and with identical purses, owners and trainers opted not to participate in the non-Lasix races. This fact appears to go hand in hand with our Lasix survey in Florida of 1,300 owner and trainer account holders with the horsemen’s bookkeeper’s office. This survey demonstrated that of those with an opinion on race-day Lasix, 90.7 percent supported its use while only 9.3 percent did not support the use of Lasix on race day.

Admittedly, everything mentioned in this article happened at Gulfstream Park in South Florida, but if it had occurred in Southern California, the results would have been the same. Of that, I am 90.7 percent sure.

Deni

s Bl

ake

CUP TM

On March 23, 2015, The Sales CupTM was foaled. From concept to reality. Any race horse bought at auction

can register with The Sales CupTM to race in our purse structured fund. 80% guaranteed to purses. At time of

publication this company was still a weanling. This company will be a yearling in 2016. So we have a lot of

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Gather ‘round, Here We Go!SALES

18 HJWINTER 15

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CASTELLANO’S CROWN

GULFSTREAM’S LEADING RIDER CAPS A BIG CLAIMING CROWN DAY WITH A WIN ON ROYAL POSSE IN THE JEWELBy Denis Blake // Photos by Coglianese Photos/Kenny Martin, Leslie Martin, Lauren King

The one constant over the 16-year history of the Claiming Crown has been change. Put on jointly by the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, the event debuted in 1999 at Canterbury Park with six races for the sport’s blue-collar claiming horses. Over the years the

total purse money has doubled to $1.1 million spread over nine races, and on December 5 Gulfstream Park and the Florida HBPA hosted a successful renewal for the fourth consecutive year.

A total of 116 horses (plus also-eligibles) were entered in the nine races, for an average of 12.9 entries per race. Even more impressively, the entrants had combined to win nearly 900 total races, with three of the Claiming Crown races featuring a field with more than 100 total wins in their past performances.

Despite rain showers that resulted in three of the four turf races being moved to an eventually sloppy (sealed) main track, bettors responded in force with total handle of $10.12 million, a tick up from last year’s $10.06 million.

“We’re extremely pleased with the success of this year’s Claiming Crown,” said P.J. Campo, general manager of Gulfstream Park and vice president of racing for Gulfstream parent company The Stronach Group. “We had big fields and tremendous participation from horsemen throughout North America. We’re confident the numbers would have been even more impressive with a fast track and firm turf course.”

This year’s edition featured a ninth race for the first time, the Claiming Crown Canterbury named in honor of the Minnesota oval that held the event 10 times, with one year stops at Philadelphia Park (now Parx Racing), Ellis Park and Fair Grounds. Also new this year was a Claiming Crown Preview Day at Laurel Park, which offered nine “Win and You’re In” races providing an automatic berth and free shipping to Gulfstream.

All Claiming Crown races were run under starter allowance conditions requiring eligible horses to have started at least once for the specified claiming price since January 1, 2014.

On the track, jockey Javier Castellano took an early lead in the riders’ standings when he bagged four Claiming Crown wins, including the $200,000 Jewel with Royal Posse, on the South Florida track’s opening day.

“I’m very lucky, very blessed,” said Castellano, who topped last year’s standings during Gulfstream Park’s Championship Meet. “I feel at home here. Gulfstream has been very good to me. The fans, the people, the trainers, the owners always support my career. This is where I started riding horses in the States, in Florida. The people have been very good to me. They give me fast horses to ride, and I feel very blessed.”

From Claim To FameH o r s e m u s t h a v e s t a r t e d O N C E a t t h e c l a i m i n g l e v e l o r l e s s

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Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.

FEATURE

Javier Castellano, here on Rapid Transit winner Stallwalkin’ Dude, had four wins on the day.

22 HJWINTER 15

$125,000 TIARA QUIET KITTEN

The name Quiet Kitten is not exactly the most threatening moniker for a racehorse, but the Kentucky-bred daughter of Kitten’s Joy roared to a decisive victory in the $125,000 Claiming Crown Tiara at 1 1/16 miles on the turf for fillies and mares who had started for $25,000 or less. With Matthew Rispoli riding for trainer Marcus Vitali and owner Crossed Sabres Farm, the 7-2 second choice went from being a good claim to a great claim when she hit the wire two lengths in front with a time of 1:48.51 over a good course.

The victory was worth $68,750 for Quiet Kitten, nearly three times the price paid when she was taken out of a $25,000 claiming event at Gulfstream exactly nine months earlier. Since that race, she has scored two grassy wins at Monmouth Park and a third victory at Gulfstream. She prepped for the Claiming Crown with a second-place effort in the $75,000 Cellars Shiraz Stakes at Gulfstream Park West (formerly Calder Race Course) on Halloween. Her Claiming Crown win pushed her bankroll to $194,680 with seven wins from 17 starts. The 3-year-old was bred by all-time leading Claiming Crown owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey.

“So far it’s been a good claim for us,” Vitali quipped. “We gave her a little breather after shipping down and everything has gone well. The race really set up well for her with a little speed in front. We let her lay off just a little bit, and I told Matt that when it was time to make his own decision. He made the right decision today.”

Texas-bred Seneca Destiny, a filly by Seneca Jones shipping in from Churchill Downs for trainer Brad Cox and owner Double Dip Stables LLC, closed well to take second. Favored Wild Swava, an Indiana-bred stakes winner and third-place finisher in the Tiara last year, took that same spot again for conditioner Charles Dickey and owner Naveed Chowhan.

$110,000 IRON HORSE RUNS WITH BULLS

Barely a year ago the Flashy Bull gelding Runs With Bulls could have been claimed for just $7,500—and he was—but he’s unlikely to see a claiming price that low anytime soon after a game win in the $110,000 Claiming Crown Iron Horse at 1 1/16 miles on the good main track. Piloted by Javier Castellano in the race for horses who had started for $7,500 or less, the Florida-bred trained by Peter Walder and owned by Ron Paolucci’s Loooch Racing Stables prevailed by three-parts of a length in 1:43.63 as the 9-2 third choice in the betting.

“I was right where I wanted to be,” Castellano said about the first of his four Claiming Crown winners. “The way I handicapped the race, there was a lot of speed and it set up for my horse. I never rode the horse, but I followed the direction of the trainer. He gave me the key to win the race. He was on the outside down the backside and cut the corner turning for home.”

Runs With Bulls had shown bursts of good form during his career but really did not develop into a consistent performer until he competed at ThistleDown in Ohio this year, where he scored three wins and two seconds in five starts before making his first start at Gulfstream. All told, he has won nine of 36 career races with earnings of $200,619.

Twocubanbrothersu, a winner of eight races this year and the 6-5 favorite, held second for trainer John Rigattieri, who co-owns the gelding with Stephen Derany. Golden Age Stable’s Roll On the Navajo, making his 19th start of the year, took third for trainer David Rakoff.

FEATURE


$110,000 RAPID TRANSIT STALLWALKIN’ DUDE

The $110,000 Claiming Crown Rapid Transit, a seven-furlong contest for horses who had started for $16,000 or less, featured two of the most accomplished horses on the entire card with Grade 3 winner Trouble Kid and Grade 1-placed Stallwalkin’ Dude both going off at 2-1. The two heavyweights did not disappoint as they battled in deep stretch with Stallwalkin’ Dude and Javier Castellano prevailing by a neck over Trouble Kid and Jose Lezcano, who were slightly favored.

“I thought Trouble Kid was going to be on the pace,” Castellano said. “I don’t know for what reason he didn’t break. My horse beat the gate and he put me in good position. I rode with a lot of confidence because I think he likes the sloppy track. It set up perfect the way he did it. My horse is a game horse. When he saw the other horse, he went back to running again. He never gave up.”

Owned and trained by David Jacobson, Stallwalkin’ Dude raced around the $16,000 claiming level last year at Gulfstream and then caught fire this spring in New York with four straight wins. He then jumped up to become a proven graded stakes runner with placings in the Grade 2 True North and Grade 1 Vosburgh Stakes before finishing eighth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. From 17 starts in 2015, he has recorded seven wins and banked more than $564,000 with a lifetime total of nearly $690,000.

Barbara Hopkins’ Trouble Kid, trained by Ramon Preciado, was a clear second and added to his already impressive résumé this year. Claimed for $15,000 in July, the Harlan’s Holiday gelding won four straight races after that and hit the wire first in the $350,000 Frank J. DeFrancis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park before being disqualified and placed second for interference.

Stephen Ferguson’s Rockinn On Bye, trained by Joseph Catanese III, was no threat to the top two but finished a clear third after shipping in from Maryland.

$110,000 DISTAFF DASH SILVER SASHAY

Rain pushed the $110,000 Claiming Crown Distaff Dash from the turf to the main track, but that made no difference to Acclaimed Racing Stable’s Silver Sashay. Although the Florida-bred mare by Eurosilver had made her last seven starts on the turf, including a win in the $60,000 Bougainvillea Stakes going five furlongs at Gulfstream, she entered with six career dirt wins and added another when she scored by a half-length over a good (sealed) surface. With Edgard Zayas up for trainer Alfred McIntosh, the 5-year-old came off a layoff of nearly five months to defeat a field of nine other fillies and mares who had started for $25,000 or less in :57.90 at 9-2 odds.

Acclaimed Racing Stable claimed Silver Sashay for just $12,500 in July 2014 at Gulfstream and has since banked more than $170,000 of her $303,265 career earnings. This marked the fourth straight win for the mare and gave her a total of 11 wins in 30 lifetime starts.

Dennis Drazin’s homebred Sunrise Kitty, who came in off a $32,000 claiming victory on the turf at Belmont Park, got up to take second for conditioner Jason Servis. Churchill Downs shipper Katie O., owned by William Butler and trained by all-time leading Claiming Crown conditioner Mike Maker, finished third.

24 HJWINTER 15

$110,000 GLASS SLIPPERMOONSHINE PROMISE

Trainer Peter Walder and owner Loooch Racing Stables picked up their second win on the Claiming Crown card while jockey Javier Castellano earned one of his four wins aboard Moonshine Promise in the $110,000 Glass Slipper for fillies and mares who have started for a tag of $12,500 or less. Becoming the second shipper from ThistleDown to find the winner’s circle, the 6-year-old mare by Will He Shine drew clear to a five-length score at 5-1 odds and stopped the timer at 1:37.67 for one mile.

A consistent performer throughout her career, Moonshine Promise came into this race with a record of 11-6-3-2 on the year after ending her 2014 campaign at the $8,000 level at Tampa Bay Downs. Even though she climbed up in class in 2015, she was still eligible for a non-winners other than maiden, claiming or starter upon entering the gates at Gulfstream. This win improved her lifetime record to 52-14-12-7 with earnings of $225,104.

“I’ve had her about a month,” said Walder after also taking the Iron Horse with Runs With Bulls. “She and [Runs With Bulls] came down at the same time. She’s been training all right. She’s not as smooth a mover as the other horse, but she runs and she’s got heart. Looch [owner Ron Paolucci] was telling me that ThistleDown was tougher than it used to be. These horses have been running good and they know how to win. It’s nice to win for Looch—he puts a lot of money into the game and guys like him deserve to win.”

Amaty Racing Stables Inc.’s My House, a four-time winner on the year, held on for second for trainer Sandino Hernandez Jr. Roll It Gal, an 84-1 longshot running for owner Bersalu Farm Inc. and trainer Bernardo Campos, got up for third.

$110,000 CANTERBURY SUCCESSFUL NATIVE

The newest addition to the Claiming Crown card, the $110,000 Claiming Crown Canterbury for horses that ran for $25,000 or less, was shifted from the turf to the main track at five furlongs and resulted in a mild upset with 11-1 shot Successful Native getting up to win by three-parts of a length with Juan Leyva up for trainer Aubrey Maragh. The Successful Appeal colt dashed the distance in :57.09.

The Kentucky-bred seemingly had a better shot on the turf, as the one-time $25,000 claimer had three wins over the Gulfstream grass, including the $75,000 Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint Stakes in July. But he proved to be fleet-footed on the main track as well, despite it being his first start on the dirt after having all eight of his previous outs on the grass. This win was worth $60,500 and improved his earnings to $154,450 with four wins in nine starts.

Monster Racing Stables’ Delta Bluesman, a versatile runner with dirt and turf wins over the summer at Monmouth Park for trainer Jorge Navarro, gave a valiant effort to be second as the 9-5 favorite. Robert Persons and Earl Conrad Sanderson Jr.’s Officer Griffin, who came in off a runner-up effort against stakes foes at Fair Grounds for trainer Joe Sharp, closed for third.

FEATURE


$125,000 EMERALD KEY TO POWER

When the $125,000 Claiming Crown Emerald was transferred from the turf to the sloppy main track, it seemed to hurt the chances of Key to Power. The 6-year-old had earned more than $300,000 on the turf with 11 wins from 31 starts, but had never had his picture taken after racing four times on dirt. However, in the 1 1/16-mile event for horses who had started for $25,000 or less, the regally-bred runner seemed to relish the off track and rolled to a half-length win under Corey Lanerie in 1:44.61 at nearly 10-1.

“He’d been training super,” said Brendan Walsh, who trains the Kentucky-bred for Premier Stables Unlimited. “The last six months have been built around this race, so it was obviously disappointing when you’re expecting a good turf course. But we had talked last year about putting him on dirt, not necessarily a sloppy track. He is bred to run on dirt. It’s nice that it worked out. I thought he was very impressive.”

Also impressive is the pedigree of Key to Power, who is a son of A.P. Indy out of three-time Grade 1 winner Exotic Wood. This win was his 12th in 36 starts and put his lifetime earnings over the $400,000 mark. Key to Power earned his first two stakes wins in September with consecutive grass victories in $50,000 events at Ellis Park and Arlington Park.

Three Diamonds Farm’s Roman Approval, a two-time Grade 3-placed runner this year for conditioner Mike Maker, finished second with 5-2 favorite Ghost Hunter, owned by Jagger Inc. and trained by Jamie Ness, taking third.

$110,000 EXPRESS DODDSPRIVATELABEL

Despite having hit the board in 11 of 13 starts in 2015 with competitive speed figures, Texas-bred Doddsprivatelabel broke from the gate in the $110,000 Claiming Crown Express at odds of 12-1. In the six-furlong race for horses who had started for $7,500 or less, the Marcos Zulueta trainee overcame a wide trip from post 14 to score by a neck under jockey Jorge Vargas Jr. The 4-year-old gelding by Suave completed the race in 1:10.77 for his biggest career win.

The well-traveled gelding shipped in from Laurel Park after a campaign that also included stints in Pennsylvania and Delaware. His earlier record included action in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas and Kentucky, so he appeared unfazed by his first trip to Florida. His effort boosted his career bankroll to $245,429 with eight wins from 28 starts. Although he had a solid year in 2014 with two wins and nearly $40,000 in earnings, he stepped up his game this year with five victories and just short of $200,000 in the bank.

Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Slan Abhaile, the mild 3-1 favorite off an October win at Keeneland Race Course for trainer Mike Maker, just missed at the wire and had to settle for second. Steven Simonovic’s Big Legacy, who had faced Slan Abhaile in his last two starts at Keeneland, crossed the wire just a head back in third for trainer Dale Bennett.

26 HJWINTER 15

$200,000 JEWEL ROYAL POSSE

In the richest race of the day, the $200,000 Claiming Crown Jewel for horses who had raced for $35,000 or less, trainer Rudy Rodriguez hit the exacta as he saddled the first two horses across the line with favored Royal Posse winning over 21-1 longshot Mr Palmer. The New York-bred Royal Posse capped off a huge day for jockey Javier Castellano and proved he had no problem competing against open company. The son of Posse, who beat New York-bred stakes horses at Saratoga and finished second in the $300,000 Empire Classic Handicap at Belmont Park, also against state-breds, took command at the three-eighths pole and splashed home by 2 ½ lengths in 1:50.77 for 1 1/8 miles.

“He’s been an amazing claim since day one,” said Rodriguez about the horse claimed for $20,000 in May who races for Michael Dubb, Bethlehem Stables LLC and Gary Aisquith. “He’s very, very sound. I tell all my owners we got very, very lucky to get him that day. I just have to thank Mr. Dubb for giving me the opportunity to claim horses for him.”

Royal Posse is now an earner of $442,245 with six wins and six seconds from 25 trips to the post, with $292,400 in earnings coming in his five starts since being claimed.

Runner-up Mr Palmer is also a $20,000 claim who runs for Carl Lizza Racing Stables LLC and Michael Imperio. The Pulpit gelding made his last start at Laurel Park, where he lost by a head to Indycott on Claiming Crown Preview Day. Sumaya U.S. Stable’s African Fighter, a daylight winner of his last two starts for trainer Todd Pletcher, finished third, a head in front of Indycott.

FEATURE


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15-0663 OV TOC full page BH.indd 1 7/9/15 12:14 PM

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Hay and grain are the staples of most equine diets. Feed companies, which employ equine

nutritionists to formulate their products, have taken the guesswork out of deciding on the appropriate

concentrate (grain mixture) to feed a horse, based on its age and occupation. But when it comes to

selecting hay, horse owners largely are on their own.

Forage should form the basis for every horse’s diet. While many farms cultivate lush pasture grass to

sustain their animals, most farms rely on hay as the main source of forage. Even farms whose pasture

supports their horses’ nutritional needs well in spring and fall will need to feed hay when extremes in

temperature make pasture sparse.

Misconceptions about the nutritional value of various types of horse hay abound, said Les

Vough, Ph.D., extension forage specialist at the University of Maryland and author of a wide range of

publications on forage. These misconceptions actually create a demand for lower-quality hay that drives

up its price.

“In some cases, the lower-nutritional-value hay—fully headed-out timothy—will actually sell for

more in the marketplace than high-quality alfalfa,” Vough said. “To some extent, horse owners tend to

associate the nutritional value with the head, like you would wheat or barley. They do not understand

that fully mature grass hays are low in nutritional value when they reach that stage. I’ll see protein

contents on some of that hay run in the 5 percent to 6 percent range, and it should be somewhere in the

9 percent to 12 percent range in the first cutting.”

According to Vough, horse owners should look for hay that has been cut earlier in its growth cycle,

which will be predominantly leafy material with a minimum of stems. Regrowth cuttings, or second and

third cuttings, are preferable.

“When they get their regrowth cutting in late summer or fall, it’s all leaf material, and it can run 20

percent to 22 percent protein and very low in fiber,” he said.

Vough also cautioned that many misunderstandings between buyer and seller arise from confusion

in terminology. He suggested that hay vendors should be more precise in their description of the types

of hay they have to offer and that buyers should become more acquainted with the different types of hay

available so they can explain what they want more accurately. He cited a recent incident with a South

Carolina horse owner who was unhappy with the pure alfalfa delivered to her.

“What she had asked for was alfalfa, and what she actually wanted was just enough alfalfa in it to

be able to find some,” he said. “She really wanted grass hay. So it was a terminology problem.”

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ALL ABOUT HAYFORAGE EXPERT SAYS MISCONCEPTIONS EXIST REGARDING DIFFERENT TYPES OF HAY AND THEIR NUTRITIONAL VALUEBy Denise Steffanus

30 HJWINTER 15

CLEARING UP SOME MISINFORMATION

Some misconceptions relate to the suitability of different types

of hay for horses. Alfalfa has been regarded as too rich for horses;

orchardgrass is commonly thought to be low in nutritional value; and

timothy historically has been valued as the best selection.

Alfalfa is ideal to meet the higher protein requirements of growing

horses and pregnant or lactating mares.

“Alfalfa hay is actually lower in many nutrients than fresh-growing

pasture grasses, the most common forage source for our young growing

horses and broodmares,” Vough said.

Horses that consume a diet too rich in protein, derived from grain

concentrates and forage, will excrete higher levels of ammonia, which

has led some horsemen to the misconception that feeding alfalfa will

damage the horse’s liver and kidneys.

Ammonia is a naturally occurring substance in the body. It is

produced when amino acids in protein are processed in the digestive

system. The liver metabolizes ammonia into urea in the bloodstream,

where it is cleaned from the blood by the kidneys and excreted as urine.

A normal horse should have no problem processing a diet too

high in protein because the body uses what protein it needs then

discards the rest. However, according to a 1983 study of racetrack

feeding practices, every kilogram of crude protein ingested over the

recommended level caused a racehorse to finish one to three seconds

slower. Researchers theorized that energy that should have been

devoted to performance was instead utilized to detoxify the body of

excess ammonia.

Orchardgrass is not sensitive to the time of cutting. It matures

earlier in the growing season and can be harvested when it is leafy, lush

and higher in nutritional value than timothy.

Timothy is sensitive to the time of cutting, so its nutritional value

is highly variable depending on the stage of maturity and the weather

conditions that impact its growth. Timothy that is overmature is coarse,

stemmy and of poor nutritional value.

“Trainers will tend to feed more alfalfa and higher quality hay,”

Vough said of hay used in the racing industry. “So that’s where we see

more of the alfalfa hay moving in the horse industry. Pleasure horse

owners are more interested in straight grass, timothy in particular, or an

alfalfa-grass mixture. In this area, it can be alfalfa-timothy or it can be

alfalfa-orchardgrass.”

According to Vough, the common belief that hay stored for more

than a year loses its nutritional value also is a misconception. Hay that

has been stored in a dry environment loses some nutritional value in the

first two months, principally Vitamin A, but then it stabilizes and will

maintain the same nutritional level for as long as two years.

“If someone offers you their good-quality, barn-stored, last year’s

hay at a bargain-basement price, take them up on it,” he advised.

TYPES OF HAY

The types of hay most commonly fed to horses include the following:

• Alfalfa: This leafy legume grows up to three feet high, with five to 25

stems growing from each crown. It can vary in color from dark lime-

green to shades of yellow, green and brown, depending on the season.

It’s highly palatable, high in calories and rich in protein (17 percent to

20 percent) and calcium (1.19 percent to 1.41 percent).

• Orchardgrass: Folded, bunched leaves and stems produce pale-brown,

cattail-like heads that appear to be missing a segment every 1/32-inch.

Protein content (8 percent to 13 percent) is slightly higher than timothy.

It’s a good crop to mix with alfalfa when seeding a hay field.

• Timothy: Leafy stems can reach 40 inches tall in optimum growing

conditions. When cut, it strongly resembles dried blades of grass that

vary in color from soft green to gray-brown green. A mature plant

produces a green to yellow, cattail-like head. Protein content is the

least of these three types of hay and ranges from 5 percent

to 11 percent, depending on maturity of the plant at harvest, with

fully headed plants providing the lowest nutritional value.

FEATUREiS

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SELECTING HAY

To evaluate the quality of hay, Vough instructed the horse owner to cut

open a representative bale from the lot and select a flake to inspect for

maturity, leafiness, color, odor, condition and foreign-material content.

“Does it have a leafy appearance or does it have a stemmy

appearance?” Vough said. “Does it have a fresh smell? If it’s been in

storage for nine or 10 months, it’s not going to have that field-fresh

smell, but you don’t want it to smell musty or have weeds or other plant

material in it that will give it an off smell, like ragweed.”

Color can vary from green to yellow to brown, based on the stage of

maturity, curing time and type of hay.

“Grasses, as they mature, will naturally lose their bright-green

color, so you do not generally see a bright-green, first-cutting, grass hay

like you would alfalfa,” he said.

But buyers should beware not to be deceived by artificial coloring

contained in some hay preservatives that gives it a bright-green

appearance.

“You have to learn to differentiate between food coloring and

natural coloring,” Vough said, but he added that a misconception is that

preservative-treated hay is harmful to the horse, when the opposite is true.

“Horse people tend to shy away from preservative-treated hay,

and it’s actually quite beneficial,” he said. “Preservative-treated hay

oftentimes will have a softer texture and a better palatability than the

same hay that is untreated.”

The final criterion is to check for foreign material, weeds and

harmful plants and insects.

HAY TESTING

Although horses typically pick through hay to find the tastiest

morsels, Vough said palatability is not a gauge for ascertaining quality.

“Animals in general are somewhat like people, particularly kids,

especially if you have been feeding one type of hay and you make an

abrupt change to another type of hay,” he said. “There is an adjustment

period. And then maybe one horse will eat a particular type of hay and

another horse will not. They have their preferences just like people do.”

The only valid way to test for quality is by laboratory assay of a

representative hay sample. Commercial laboratories offer forage testing

to determine the nutritional value of lots of hay. Typically, core samples

are taken from 15 to 20 representative bales. Those core samples are

mixed together thoroughly in a box or other container, then a sample

large enough to fill a sealed, one-quart plastic bag is withdrawn,

labeled and mailed to the laboratory. Assays take about 10 days to two

weeks to process.

Many farms that produce large volumes of hay and hay dealers who

handle thousands of bales have their lots tested and make the assay

information available to prospective buyers. Consumers can use that

information to determine the quality of the hay before they buy it and

afterward to form the basis for designing a cost-effective, nutritionally

balanced diet for their horses with the assistance of a nutritionist,

veterinarian or feed mill consultant.

While Vough said it is not reasonable to assay small lots of hay, he

suggested that horsemen sample at least one lot of the type of hay they

typically feed their horses to educate themselves on its quality.

“One thing that is useful is to sample some of it and maybe keep a

flake or two out of the bale so that you know what it looked like, but then

have it analyzed so that you at least have a general association of the

nutritional value based on what you typically buy,” he said.

Contact your local extension service for the names of laboratories in

your area that perform hay testing.

ROLLS VERSUS BALES

When pasture is scarce or frozen, the trend over the past decade

has been to set out large rolls of hay for forage. Round bales, which

typically contain the equivalent of about ten square bales of hay, may

be enveloped in plastic as the final phase of the baling process to

protect them during storage. Others are allowed to cure in the elements

to form a water-shedding outer layer, which typically develops mold and

may be a problem for horses with respiratory allergies.

Round bales stored on the ground in the elements can be a source

of botulism, especially if moist, decomposing material is found inside

them. Even those enveloped in plastic may be at risk if they are not

consumed within a few days of unwrapping them and setting them

out in the pasture. Horses regularly consuming round bales should be

vaccinated against botulism as a precaution.

Square bales of hay that contain mold never should be fed to horses,

but what about allowing horses to graze on round bales whose outer crust

is largely moldy forage? Vough said that because round bales contain

such a large volume of hay, horses are able to pick through them to eat

only the hay that is palatable and discard the moldy forage.

“If you look at the amount of waste that typically occurs with large

round bales, you don’t see that amount of waste with other hay, like the

small square bales that are being fed in the barn,” he said. “I think

that since the amount that is available to them is much less in the barn

than it is with a round bale, they don’t have the ability to be as selective

[in the barn]. If they’re hungry, they’re going to have to eat it.”

A high volume of waste occurs if round bales are set on the ground.

Horses tend to pick through them, then use the discarded hay as a

soft spot to snooze. Instead, round bales should be placed in a feeder

designed specifically to be safe for horses. Preferably, the feeder should


32 HJWINTER 15

be under some sort of overhead cover to protect the bale

from rain.

HAY STORAGE

Spontaneous combustion is a real danger when

storing newly baled hay, but the old practice of

sprinkling salt between the layers has no effect in

preventing fire, Vough said. Instead, he suggested

storing hay in a building with good ventilation and

stacking it loosely so that air channels can circulate

through it.

“The ideal hay storage is one that is very open and

air can move through,” he said. “Segregate the bales so

the heavy, wetter bales don’t go in the barn or they go

on the outside of the stack, not in the middle, and then

stack the bales on their sides, particularly with the cut

side up. You can’t stack them tight.”

According to Vough, modern barns and storage

buildings that are constructed of metal or other

materials that are airtight can contribute to the

molding of hay during storage.

HAY FINDER SERVICEThe U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency hosts a website, Hay Net

(fsa.usda.gov/haynet), that brings together buyers and sellers of hay through free ad

postings. After clicking on “Access eHayNet Service,” the website offers two primary

choices, “Need Hay Ads” and “Have Hay Ads.” From there, individuals can select the

state where they want to buy or sell hay.

Once they have selected the desired state, visitors to the website can browse

ads (most recent appear first) or post one of their own by registering as a user.

To place an ad, users can click on the link “Add a Hay Ad.” An online form asks

for contact information and provides a space to compose and submit an ad. Users

may attach a link to the ad that takes readers to a website of the user’s choice. This

is especially helpful for hay sellers, who can refer prospective buyers to a company or

farm website or one that displays a photo of the hay for sale or additional information

about it or the seller.

Unlike some websites that prohibit posting of personal information, ads on Hay

Net are permitted to contain specifics such as the price of the hay, where it was

grown, the first and last name of the contact person and contact phone numbers.

All ads must contain an email address, city, state and at least the first name of the

contact, but no additional contact information is required to be posted.

Because deleting an ad can be accomplished in just a few clicks on the main

Hay Net page, stale listings do not appear to be a problem. —Denise Steffanus

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FEATURE

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34 HJWINTER 15

THE LITTLE RACETRACK THAT COULDMICHIGAN HORSEMEN PERSEVERE TO KEEP RACING ALIVE AT HAZEL PARKBy Judy L. Marchman

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rtesy

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el P

ark

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way

ichigan’s Thoroughbred industry has been struggling to keep its head above water for years now, but last year’s return of the breed

to Hazel Park Raceway near Detroit provided a welcome respite for the state’s horsemen. After the first Thoroughbred meet in 30

years at Hazel Park was deemed a success, all signs looked good for this year, but purse shortages and struggles to level the

regulatory playing field have forced horsemen to dig in once again. However, for the past two years, there has been one very bright spot at

Hazel Park: Michigan fans will come out to watch and bet on live Thoroughbred racing. And that gives track officials and local horsemen

hope for the future.

M

FEATURE


THOROUGHBREDS RETURN TO DETROIT

“For a day-to-day type of crowd, we’re one of the top tracks with

live attendance,” said Mike Stommen, assistant director of racetrack

operations at Hazel Park. “We’ll typically have a few thousand people

on a Friday night.”

Business was certainly hopping at the track on the evening

of Friday, July 17, with people continuing to arrive throughout the

night. The sight of the bustling, happy crowd was bittersweet for

both track management and horsemen given the upbeat ending to

last year’s meet, which welcomed Thoroughbreds back to Hazel Park

for the first time since 1984. The track originally opened in 1949

with a Thoroughbred meet and then started offering Thoroughbred

and Standardbred racing in 1953. Returning to Hazel Park offered a

chance for Michigan horsemen to come home after years of a nomadic

existence both within and outside of the state.

“All Michigan horsemen since the closing of Detroit Race Course [in

1998], all our lives have been in turmoil,” said Mary Ann Barron, Hazel

Park’s racing secretary and a lifelong Michigan horsewoman.

After a nine-year stint at Great Lakes Down in Muskegon and then

a brief sojourn to Pinnacle Race Course, which failed after hopes for a

casino fell through, Michigan horsemen wound up at Mount Pleasant

Meadows, a half-mile state fair track, “which was like purgatory,”

Michigan HBPA President George Kutlenios said. “But when Pinnacle

closed, I realized that if we didn’t find a place to race, or even took a

year off, Thoroughbred racing in Michigan would be dead.”

While Thoroughbred racing was secured at Mount Pleasant,

Kutlenios wanted to get Thoroughbreds and Michigan’s horsemen back

to the Detroit area and to a much larger and more knowledgeable

audience. Last year, Hazel Park’s management agreed to bring

Thoroughbred racing back to the track, and upon approval from the

Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB), which regulates horse racing

in the state, work began in May 2014 to convert the five-eighths-mile

racetrack and make the necessary infrastructure changes.

“We took most of June to convert the track over [from a

Standardbred racing surface to a Thoroughbred one],” Stommen said.

“We had to move the rails and re-anchor them, and we had to take the

banks out of the turns and bring in about four inches of sandy loam.”

The track also did some repairs and made some improvements to

the barn area to get it ready for horses again, as the Standardbreds

were all ship-ins.

“The entire conversion was all a little over $300,000,”

Stommen added.

Barron pointed out that many of the oak barns that date to the

track’s original opening in 1949 were still in good shape, even after

going unused for so long. Only about a third of the barn area is left,

though, with a training center and a number of barns having been torn

down in the intervening years. But for Michigan horsemen, it’s been a

chance to return home, at least for a few weeks.

“It was wonderful last year, seeing a lot of old friends,” said

Ernesto Scarpetti, who owns a farm in Ocala, Florida, and trains

horses for several clients including Kutlenios.

He had eight horses stabled at Hazel Park during the 2015

meet, but as a former jockey, his connection to the track goes much

further back.

“I rode here for the first time in 1976, went out west and then

came back in 1980 until it closed,” he said.

Hazel Park held its opening night last year on June 27, and more

than 10,000 people turned out, greatly exceeding all expectations.

The next weekend was Fourth of July with fireworks on that Friday and

again another big crowd. But after those two big weekends, no one

knew if the people would continue to come. They did.

“We had no idea that every Friday and Saturday night this place

was going to be wall-to-wall people; it was like magic,” Barron said.

Even with the challenges of running only two nights a week—

getting enough barn help and jockeys to come in to ride were constant

struggles—races filled well for the most part, given the lower purse

structure (average overnights of $50,000) than other area tracks.

The Hazel Park clubhouse (right) and grandstand started to again offer views of Thoroughbred racing last year for the first time in three decades.

Judy

Mar

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an

36 HJWINTER 15

FEATURE

“The live handle was doing very well,” Kutlenios said. “We were

averaging $100,000 a night on live. We had other tracks calling and

saying, ‘What are you guys doing out there?’”

CURRENT STRUGGLESWith the 2014 meeting a success, Hazel Park and the Michigan

HBPA applied for and were granted 40 days of racing for 2015. The

positive momentum, however, was derailed by a shortage of overnight

purse funds of between $400,000 and $500,000 that dictated an early

end to the 2015 meet. The 2015 Hazel Park meet began with a 7 percent

reduction in overall purse money from the previous year, and the track

had to reduce starting fees and purses three times through the meet to

continue funding overnight purses.

Exacerbating the issue was the loss of expected simulcast revenue

from the harness track, Sports Creek Raceway. Standardbred horsemen

failed to sign an agreement with that harness track to race in 2015,

and the MGCB subsequently shut down Sports Creek on January 1. The

closure resulted in a loss of $400,000 in expected purse money for

Thoroughbreds at Hazel Park.

Having to end the meet early was a bitter pill for Michigan horsemen

to take, particularly when combined with the lack of assistance from the

MGCB.

“We have a regulator that has not been very cooperative for

Thoroughbred racing; that makes it difficult,” said Kutlenios, explaining

that the racing industry had been under the aegis of the Office of

Racing Commissioner under the Michigan Department of Agriculture and

Rural Development before being moved under the MGCB, which oversees

the state’s casino industry, five years ago.

As a way to save an estimated $150,000 in purse money, the

Michigan HBPA proposed to the MGCB reducing the number of races

per day from nine to eight, something that has been done in the past

in Michigan and is currently done in other racing jurisdictions such as

Illinois and California. The request was denied.

Another avenue the Michigan HPBA pursued was a million-dollar

“escrow fund” held by the MGCB. The funds were generated at Hazel

Park from the Standardbred meetings and, by statute, are allocated to

Hazel Park for Standardbred racing. However, with Standardbreds no

longer running at the track, the Michigan HBPA anticipated that the

MGCB would appropriate the funds for the active Thoroughbred and

Standardbred meets occurring in the state.

On July 7, the Michigan HBPA and Hazel Park sent a request to the

MGCB offering two options: (1) the track closes on August 8 instead of

the original September 12, or (2) the funds could be split on a 50-50

basis between the Thoroughbred and Standardbred horsemen, which

would allow Hazel Park to finish the full meet.

“Releasing even some of the escrow money would have helped,”

Kutlenios said. “It would have gotten us to the 40 days.”

The MGCB’s response came on July 22, declining the request to

release the funds and ordering Hazel Park to end the meet early. A press

release from the MGCB stated, “According to the Michigan Horse Racing

Law of 1995, over $1 million is available for Standardbred racing should

the Michigan Harness Horsemen’s Association sign a contract with

Hazel Park Raceway in the future.” The Michigan HBPA currently has a

five-year contract with the track for Thoroughbred racing.

“I have to take my hat off to the people at Hazel Park who tried

very hard to make this happen and the Michigan horsemen who have

stuck with this program, even when it didn’t make economic sense,”

Kutlenios said. “They just believed in their home state and believed in

the Michigan product enough and they saw the fans here…That’s why

it’s so sad to see this meet cut short.

“So that’s where we’re at as for the state of racing right now,”

Kutlenios added. “The upside of that is that we’ve spent three years

working with our state legislators.”

SETTING AN EXAMPLEHazel Park and the Michigan HBPA have been working closely with

state legislators to educate them on Thoroughbred horse racing and its

viability as an agricultural product and revenue generator for the state.

Kutlenios remains hopeful that those efforts will pay off in the near future

in a couple of ways. First, the Michigan HBPA has proposed legislation

that would redefine how money earned from racing would be distributed in

the state.

“It’s called a breed-specific distribution model,” Kutlenios said.

Money spent on Thoroughbreds would be designated for

Thoroughbred purses, and money spent on Standardbreds would go to

Standardbred purses. Under the current law, which went into effect

when the state had seven Standardbred tracks and two Thoroughbred

tracks, the distribution of funds is roughly 60 percent to Standardbreds

versus 40 percent to Thoroughbreds.

Michigan horsewoman Julie Atwood and Michigan HBPA Executive

Director Gary Tinkle are among those fighting to keep Thoroughbred

racing going in the state.

Judy

Mar

chm

an


Although Michigan racing does face its share of challenges, attracting

fans to Hazel Park does not appear to be one of them.

Haze

l Par

k Ra

cewa

y“And right now, about 62 percent of all money in Michigan is bet

on Thoroughbreds, and 38 percent is bet on Standardbreds,” Kutlenios

pointed out. “We just want to fix that to make it realistic and reflect

today’s market.”

Also on the wish list is to finally get advance deposit wagering

(ADW); a pilot product at Hazel Park has been awaiting approval from

the MGCB for more than a year.

“We’re one of the few states that doesn’t have an active ADW

program in place,” Kutlenios said.

The upside to closing early, Kutlenios pointed out, is that they

would be able to fill the purse pool for next year. In addition, the

Department of Agriculture’s enacted 2015-16 budget provides

an additional $600,000 to the state’s Agriculture Equine Industry

Development Fund for horse purse supplements, and 60 percent of that

($360,000) is expected to be earmarked for Thoroughbred racing.

“We’re still here, and we’re still fighting,” Michigan HBPA Executive

Director Gary Tinkle said. “Our horsemen have just been unbelievable,

being dedicated to spending the money to keep themselves going in

anticipation of something happening, and I just can’t give enough

praise for that. It helps us do our job when we know we can depend on

our horsemen to support what we’re trying to do.”

“Michigan has struggled, but you know what? The horsemen have

just not given up. It’s been a struggle for several years with the purse

money, and yet the perseverance has just been incredible,” said Julie

Atwood, a Michigan native who has been in racing for 12 years as an

owner and, as of this year, as a trainer with a string at Hazel Park.

In the meantime, Hazel Park officials are proud—and rightfully

so—of the public response to the live racing program.

“We are getting a younger demographic,” Stommen said. “The

young professionals seem to be starting to come.”

Upstairs in the clubhouse, veteran horseplayers can hunker down

for an afternoon and/or evening of betting, keeping an eye on the wall

of TVs broadcasting races from all over. But on Friday and Saturday

evenings during the live meet, the rest of the plant is dedicated to

drawing in and entertaining a broader audience, from those curious

about horse racing to families looking for an economical night out

to office groups or friends having a party. Fridays are $1 nights ($1

popcorn and sodas, $2 beers, etc.) and also include the Action on the

Apron program, with activities and music, as well as the important

beer and hot dog stands.

A big believer in customer education and word-of-mouth promotion,

Stommen has put together a popular program called Night at the

Races, which includes a tour of the facility and backside (which he

usually conducts), a food voucher, a betting voucher, programs and

some betting instructions for newcomers. The visit to the backside has

been especially well received.

“We have my superstar horses back there who are really good with

people. They all take pictures and have a great experience with the

horses,” he said, adding that getting people in touch with the horses is

what sets the racetrack experience apart from casinos. “Many people

have never touched a horse.”

He has also reached out to local businesses for sponsorship

opportunities. One such example is Valentine Distillery, which sponsors

the Paddock, the open area underneath the clubhouse where party

suites have been set up for groups to reserve for the evening. In early

August, mobile wagering on live and simulcast races was approved,

which Stommen thinks will appeal to the younger demographic as well.

“It keeps people from having to interrupt their conversations with

their friends to go bet, so hopefully the younger crowd will get into

that,” he said. “We have to face that it’s a changing market, and we’re

in the entertainment industry now.”

Kutlenios echoed Stommen’s remark about the changing market

of racing, from bringing in other forms of entertainment to making the

sport more understandable for new fans.

“I would hope other states would stop looking in the past at

what racing used to be and be realistic and accept horse racing for

what it is today,” he said. “We won’t ever run 160 days of live racing

in Michigan again, but whatever days we do run, we should make

them productive, profitable and entertaining and safe. Those are the

important things moving forward.”

Even through all the purse and regulatory struggles, knowing that

Michigan fans have responded so enthusiastically to live racing keeps

Hazel Park and Michigan horsemen motivated to ensure a live meet

for 2016.

“If there’s an upside to this whole story, it’s that I think we’ve built

a case that Thoroughbred racing is still a popular fan sport,” Kutlenios

said. “Hazel Park certainly proves that. We bring people out every Friday

and Saturday to watch these magnificent horses run without additional

incentive, such as slots, and I think that’s important.”

38 HJWINTER 15

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CENTURIES of

PROGRESS


Horse racing has entertained spectators since before the Romans ruled Europe, and we can find evidence of the sport as far back as the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. In England, its history begins with King James I (1567–1625 AD), who developed “the sport of kings” in places like Newmarket, and drug use in racehorses actually dates all the way back to the time of his reign. This pharmacological intervention in racing clearly persisted through the early 1800s.

A painting by late 1700s and early 1800s French artist Carle Vernet titled L’Arivée de la Course shows upon close examination that it was not unusual for horsemen to openly dose and medicate their horses at competitive events (see the men heading the horses and administering something from a bottle). These activities apparently drew little attention from spectators or the Jockey Club of the time. This practice likely stemmed from the use of similar elixirs by the horses’ human counterparts, and no regulatory intervention was apparent. The make-up of these early medicaments is unknown, but they likely were of questionable benefit or effectiveness. Things were, however, about to change.

The coca plant is native to the slopes of the Andes, where its leaves have been used for centuries both for the people that live there and for their horses and mules to overcome difficulty breathing at high altitude, among other uses. The leaves were imported to Europe from Peru in the 1750s and rapidly gained widespread use among racehorses.

In the 1800s, drug use became more nefarious. Use of drugs went from the fairly innocuous use of rough leaf preparations to purified drugs. Old World morphine was purified in the early part of the century, and later cocaine was purified from the coca leaf, making both of these substances available in chemically pure and pharmacologically more useful forms. These substances, and particularly morphine, are highly effective stimulants in racehorses, and the use and application of these and related substances in horse racing were no longer centered in Europe. A review of U.S. and Canadian court records from the late 1800s provides examples of the use of such performance-enhancing substances in racehorses, although there was still no formal scientific or regulatory effort to control their use.

CENTURIES of

PROGRESS HORSE RACING HAS LONG BEEN A LEADER IN THE SPORTING WORLD FOR ITS DETECTION OF DRUG USEBy Clara Fenger, DVM, PhD, DACVIM; Gary Norwood, DVM; Steven A. Barker, PhD; Rich Halvey; Kent Stirling; and Thomas Tobin, MRCVS, PhD, DABT

This painting by French artist Carle Vernet appears to show horses being administered a mystery substance at a race.

FEATURE

40 HJWINTER 15

THE ORIGINS OF MODERN-DAY DRUG TESTINGThe use of medications by North Americans was apparently greater than

that of their European counterparts. At the turn of the century, a number of these North American trainers went to Europe, where their professional success and familiarity with what we would now call performance-enhancing substances led to them becoming known as the “Yankee alchemists.” Contemporary reports suggest that an American trainer named Wishard was the master of this new art, and in 1900, he reportedly trained 54 winners in England, making him the country’s leading trainer in races won that year. It was this success of the Yankee alchemists that led to the first formal prohibitions on the use of medications in racehorses.

Frustrated with the dominance of the North American invaders on the turf and unable to sway the British Jockey Club toward regulating these substances, the well-connected and very well-dressed English trainer the Hon. George Lambton, son of the Earl of Durham, concocted a plan. In a famous and well-publicized experiment, Lambton took to using the American drugs in his own racehorses, publicizing the names, dates and races in which they were entered for the consumption of the general public.

Lambton’s brash stunt was apparently successful, with racing success both on the turf and in the hallowed chambers of the Jockey Club. As a result, in 1903 the British Jockey Club moved to make the medication of a racehorse an offense against the rules of racing. The punishment was to be “ruled off the turf,” a professional death sentence, preventing the offender from being present at racetracks or doing business with any individual or entity associated with racing. In France, at about the same time, the Société d’Encouragement followed the lead of the British Jockey Club and also introduced regulations

forbidding the medication of racehorses. What is completely unclear, however, is what regulatory actions, if any, were implemented to enforce these rulings, and there were rumors that by 1906 French trainers were widely using the newfangled medications, with the practice spreading throughout Europe and into Russia.

Prohibition of drug use in racehorses was a great idea but a somewhat empty gesture in the absence of the ability to detect the drugs. That all changed when, in Russia in the early 1900s, an American trainer named John Keene was dominating the Russian racing circuit. Frustrated Russian officials came to the paddock with a basket of Russian frogs. Under the direction of the Russian racing official, the chemist proceeded to take a saliva sample from Keene’s horse and inject it into the frogs. The frogs immediately began to behave in most un-frog-like ways, and Keene was immediately declared “positive” and ruled “off the turf” in Russia. Keene returned to the United States and to his home farm, Keeneland, in Lexington, Kentucky, where his name lives on in the sport.

“Scientific” drug testing in racing began in the early 1900s, but testing methods were, by modern standards, relatively primitive. In 1910 in France, the Polish chemist Alfons Bukowski, then employed by the Austrian horse racing authorities, proved it was possible to detect drugs in equine saliva using chemical methods. His methods of employing microcrystalline precipitation of drugs combined with salts detected strychnine, morphine, cocaine and caffeine, all early “winners.” The use of these substances was due in part to the fact that they were among the few “pure” drugs available commercially at the time and the fact that they had obvious performance-enhancing effects.

In 1932 Bukowski’s methods were adopted in Florida, where it was said that the racing stables were better equipped than pharmacies, and thus began modern

The roots of modern equine drug testing in America can be traced back to the 1930s, around the time of this photo from the long-defunct Arlington Downs near Dallas, Texas.

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drug testing in the United States. Later that decade, horse race testing involved identification of crystals, various color tests or reportedly injecting rats or frogs with urine or saliva to examine effects on their behavior. It is important to note that the sensitivities of Bukowski’s tests were estimated to be in the micrograms/ml range, some billion times less sensitive than today’s methodology. Among his many publications and contributions was the 1888 volume Textbook of the Urine Analysis for Students and Pharmacists, presumably the first urinary drug testing book ever written. By profession, training and practical experience, Bukowski was well positioned to address the now long overdue matter of regulating the improper use of medications in racehorses.

In 1910, the Austrian racing authorities retained Bukowski to assist them in their first attempts to use his drug detection techniques to regulate drug use in racehorses. His work was reviewed and confirmed by a Viennese chemist, Professor Frankel, and apparently soon implemented in Austrian racing. Following these events, the first recorded racing positive in Western Europe was called on a horse named Bourbon Rose, who won the 1912 Gold Cup at Maisons-Laffitte but was later disqualified because of the positive “dope” test. This matter was then appealed by the owners into the French courts, but the owners lost their case. Chemical testing for performance-altering substances had arrived in France and been supported by the courts. It is also worth noting that drug testing in horse racing long predates the first ever athletic, military or workplace human drug tests.

U.S. EQUINE DRUG TESTING Drug testing had not yet arrived in the United States, where, in the early

1930s, a gentleman by the name of Harry Anslinger became chief of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. One of his first regulatory targets as chief of the bureau was American horse racing, with his agents reportedly spending one year undercover investigating the sport. The outcomes of these activities were apparently numerous arrests of owners, trainers and stable hands, with the arrestees being accused of using heroin and cocaine in direct violation of federal law and with claims of up to 200 doping events identified. Reacting to this circumstance, William Woodward Sr. of Woodward Stakes fame and chair of The Jockey Club sent a veterinarian, Dr. J.G. Catlett, and a chemist, Dr. C.E. Morgan, to France to learn the French drug testing techniques. The outcome of these events was the introduction of drug testing to North American racing, and in 1935, the New York Racing Commission opened a racing chemistry laboratory in Manhattan.

The historical record of drug use in horse racing and the regulatory attempts to restrict its use is filled with novel drug use followed by drug-testing advances. In the 1930s, nitroglycerine, heroin, cocaine, strychnine and ephedrine were the performance-enhancing drugs of choice. The drug testing relied on Bukowski’s methods of identifying foreign crystals in saliva and urine. The 1940s and 1950s saw the use of amphetamines enter the horse racing arena, which were countered by the introduction of paper chromatography drug detection methods, which progressed to thin layer chromatography, a

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The World Anti-Doping Agency recently reported a positive test rate of 1.19 percent among human athletes, which is approximately 3 ½ times the rate in horse racing.

42 HJWINTER 15

method which was used routinely as recently as the late 1900s. In the 1960s, the therapeutic medications phenylbutazone and Lasix/Salix began to be used, and gas chromatography was developed. Synthetic opiates such as Sublimaze (fentanyl) found their way into horse racing in the 1970s, to the point that horses going out to pasture for a “freshening up” would reportedly exhibit clear signs of the “DTs,” or drug withdrawal, when coming out of training. High-performance liquid chromatography was utilized to combat these newer substances.

By the mid-1980s, advances in pharmaceutical research had led to the development of numerous high potency medications that were essentially undetectable by the relatively insensitive drug-testing techniques being used by racing laboratories at that time. Responding to this circumstance, in 1985 Commissioner Brownell Combs of the Kentucky State Racing Commission invited researchers at the University of Kentucky to develop an improved testing technology for etorphine or “elephant juice,” at that time a very high potency synthetic opiate reportedly being used with impunity in racehorses. Approaching this problem, the program adapted enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing, the same technology used in home pregnancy tests, for use in racing chemistry. Introduction of this technology rapidly increased the sensitivity of post-race drug testing up to a thousand fold for some medications, leading to large numbers of positive identifications for certain medications, especially opiates and stimulant medication in some jurisdictions. In a nutshell, certain patterns of medication use and most particularly the use of opiate-type medications that had existed in one form or another for approaching 100 years came to an abrupt end with the introduction of this new ELISA-based testing technology.

Current drug testing methodologies using highly sensitive liquid chromatography-mass-spectrometry-mass-spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) analytical techniques have surpassed previous testing methods by orders of magnitude. This increased drug testing sensitivity has enabled the detection of very small amounts of illegal medications but comes with a very high price for the horsemen and the industry. Now, extremely small, “trace” concentrations of legitimate therapeutic medications used to protect the health and welfare of the horse and trace concentrations of dietary and environmental substances are being detected when they were previously not of concern, simply because they could not be detected.

The first trace dietary substance to become a regulatory concern was theobromine, a component of cocoa husk and also of chocolate and other dietary and environmental sources occurring in English and Irish racing in the early

1980s. The solution to this problem was the introduction of the first regulatory threshold for a dietary substance, in this case the 2,000 ng/ml in urine regulatory threshold for theobromine. A similar circumstance followed the detection of trace-level amounts of benaoylecgonine (BZE), the major urinary metabolite of cocaine, and again the solution was to establish defined and published regulatory cut-offs, below which concentrations these identifications were considered forensically insignificant and therefore not a regulatory concern.

Broadly similar approaches have been taken for therapeutic medications, with prescribed and sometimes published limitations on the sensitivity of testing being incorporated into the regulatory process. In the United States, these cut-offs take the form of published regulatory thresholds for therapeutic medications as represented by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium-controlled therapeutic medication schedule, while in Europe and Asia they take the form of screening limits of detection. The goal in both cases is to eliminate the necessity of identifying, reporting and taking regulatory action on therapeutically insignificant trace-level residual concentrations of therapeutic medications or their metabolites.

Cheating will always be a force to be dealt with in any human endeavor. One should not, however, wish a return to the cleaner days of old or faraway lands, where the playing field has always been level. It certainly was not.

Every jurisdiction faces the same challenges. In a careful review of the facts, in the area of drug testing, as in many other areas, horse racing has been a world leader, with routine drug testing introduced in horse racing a full half-century before drug testing of any other athletic events. Horse racing has been subject to drug testing since 1910 and therefore has the longest established, the broadest in scope and also the most highly sensitive drug testing of any competitive activity on earth. The World Anti-Doping Agency reported 1.19 percent positive tests out of 267,000 human tests in 2012. The Association of Racing Commissioners International reported 0.34 percent positive tests out of 346,840 in American horse racing in 2013. While we can and should always strive for better control of actual cheating, the fact is that horse racing remains a haven of integrity among sports.

FURTHER READING: Thomas Tobin, Kimberly Brewer and Kent H. Stirling. World Rules for

Equine Drug Testing and Therapeutic Medication Regulation: 2012 Policy of the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, Inc. Nicholasville, Ky.: Wind Publications, 2011.

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AN OVERVIEW OF OWNERSHIP: WHAT EVERY OWNER SHOULD KNOWLearn more about what every owner should know. Industry experts

discuss the importance of developing a business plan, licensing, vet bills, silks, accounting and legal issues, insurance, claiming, syndicates, auctions and aftercare. National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback is among the panel’s speakers.

ACQUIRING YOUR THOROUGHBRED RACEHORSE: WHAT ARE YOUR OPTIONS?Whether you are a new owner, thinking about ownership or an

experienced owner, you won’t want to miss this panel of longtime owners discussing the many ways to own a racehorse—from claiming and syndicates to breeding, private purchases and public sales.

JOCKEYS: THE HANDS BEHIND THE REINSA panel of talented and seasoned jockeys talk about the decisions and

dangers of their profession and the characteristics needed to be successful, including athleticism, fearlessness, agility, competitiveness, decisiveness, strength, compassion and honesty.

PURSUING YOUR DREAM: FASCINATING SUCCESS STORIES FROM THOROUGHBRED OWNERS

Fascinating success stories from a panel of owners ranging from claiming owners to graded stakes owners reinforce the notion that anyone can be a Thoroughbred owner and pursue their dream.

FROM DAILY CARE AND WELFARE TO AFTERCARE: THE LIFE JOURNEY OF YOUR THOROUGHBRED

Trainers, veterinarians, owners and aftercare professionals discuss the daily care and welfare of an owner’s racehorses and how that care and the decisions made can impact second careers off the track.

A DAY IN THE LIFE: ALL OF THE PEOPLE INVOLVED WITH YOUR THOROUGHBRED

Learn more about the people involved on a daily basis with your Thoroughbred racehorse and the roles they play, including the trainer, groom, exercise rider, jockey, jockey’s agent, farrier, veterinarian, dentist, chiropractor, pony rider, hotwalker, identifier, gate crew, entry clerk and racing secretary.

THE SECOND THOROUGHBRED OWNER CONFERENCE IS SET FOR JANUARY AT GULFSTREAM PARKBy Tammy A. Gantt, Courtesy of Florida Horse

MEETING OF THE MINDS

Legendary track announcer Tom Durkin interviews Penny Chenery, owner of Secretariat, at the first Thoroughbred Owner Conference.

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The second annual Thoroughbred Owner Conference is scheduled for January 11-14 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida, just days before the Eclipse Awards and Sunshine Millions. The event is hosted by OwnerView, The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and presented by sponsors Keeneland, The Stronach Group and Woodbine Entertainment. The Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association (FTBOA) is partnering with event organizers for the opening reception on January 11, which will showcase the Florida breeding industry, Florida farms and ownership opportunities in the state.

This is the single most important conference Thoroughbred owners of all levels and segments of the industry should attend; breeders and trainers are also encouraged to attend to network with horsemen and owners large and small, new and seasoned. The conference provides valuable content and networking and, most important, an opportunity to be inspired by the great moments and people in the sports of kings.

Among the prominent owners and industry personalities lined up to participate are well-known radio personality and Thoroughbred owner Jim Rome and legendary track announcer Tom Durkin. Rome, who hosts “The Jim Rome Show” on CBS Sports Radio and “Jim Rome on Showtime,” is scheduled as a keynote speaker, while Durkin will serve as master of ceremonies. Conference organizers will unveil other speakers in the line-up as they become available.

Social events include the Florida industry opening night reception sponsored by FTBOA and Florida farms; a gala dinner sponsored by Bessemer Trust, the Breeders’ Cup, Fasig-Tipton and Daily Racing Form; a VIP day of racing at Gulfstream Park; the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund charity poker tournament; best of Miami tours; the Eclipse Awards opening reception; and the Eclipse Awards eve party. Conference participants can also purchase first-come, first-served Eclipse Awards tickets for $400 each.

The cost for the conference is $750, and social events only are $350. For more information, go to ownerview.com.

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ALABAMA HBPA

Gambling did not make it to the floor for the Alabama Legislature’s special session, but in the first week of November, Governor Robert Bentley did a turnabout and was attempting to take the power to enforce Alabama gambling laws away from the state attorney general and put it in the hands of the local sheriffs and district attorneys, basically leaving the decision to allow local gambling to them. This could open the door for gambling at the four simulcast/dog tracks!

Alabama-breds are winning across the country. With winners at Belterra, Delaware, Evangeline, Keeneland, Los Alamitos and Louisiana Downs and runners hitting the board at Canterbury, Fair Grounds, Horsemen’s Park, Laurel, Mountaineer and Santa Anita, we are covering the country.

The Alabama HBPA doubled its 2015 purse supplement to $20,000 and has added an additional $5,000 to accommodate the horsemen. To date, $24,000 has been distributed, leaving $1,000 available. Email [email protected] or call (205) 969-7048 for Alabama-bred horses running in open company and hitting the board.

The $57,000 Magic City Classic, sponsored by the Birmingham Racing Commission at one mile on the dirt for registered Alabama-bred 3-year-olds and up, was run December 11 at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. We had 11 horses nominated as of the November 11 closing date. The Kudzu Juvenile was not run this year.

Funding of races sponsored by the commission comes from a breeders’ fund derived from 0.4 percent of horse simulcasting and distributed at the commission’s discretion. With the 2015 simulcast handle up over the past two years, we hope to see an increase in the purses for 2016.

The Kenneth Cotton Memorial, sponsored by the Alabama HBPA, is in the works for late spring or early summer of 2016. When we have the conditions, date, time and track finalized, we will be sure to get the information out.

Nancy Delony, Executive Director

ARIZONA HBPA

The Turf Paradise meet is off and running. Opening day on October 17 was well attended with a large crowd on hand. We have 186 trainers and 1,452 horses stabled on the grounds. Some are returning trainers and others are new; however, we are glad to have all back with us and are looking forward to a successful meet.

Prior to the meet’s opening, the Arizona Department of Gaming/Racing (ADOR), AZHBPA and Turf Paradise held a horsemen’s meeting. New ADOR Director Rudy Casillas was introduced, and he informed horsemen of some of the upcoming changes for the new meet. The department has two new stewards, Magdaleno Perez, joining the staff for the Turf Paradise meet, and Juan Estrada, the new safety steward replacing Gary Baze.

Arizona-bred horses will experience a change in allocated purse money for the first time. This year 10 percent of the purse will be allocated to a certified Arizona-bred placing first, second or third in an open race. Straight Arizona-bred races will continue to receive the added money as in previous years. Arizona-bred horses will be showcased on Festival Day, April 23.

Turf Paradise has leased the horsemen’s kitchen to a private individual this year. We would encourage horsemen to try the privately run kitchen. They offer a variety of food and wonderful race-day specials.

The AZHBPA and Turf Paradise sponsored their annual Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday, November 25. The traditional Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings was extremely well attended.

Justin Shepherd, a jockey who came to Turf Paradise for the first time this year, got his 1,000th win on November 3. Congratulations!

Throughout the meet, Turf Paradise will host several special events. January 16 will celebrate Turf Paradise’s 60th anniversary, February 13 is Super Saturday featuring the Phoenix Gold Cup, March 5 is the annual Wine, Women & Horses event that benefits Child Crisis Center, and March 12 is Wiener Mania. Those are just a few of the planned festivities, so mark your calendars and come join in.

AZHBPA President J. Lloyd Yother was elected National HBPA Regional Vice President. He has been busy on the local level putting out fires, meeting with Turf Paradise management and working on legislative issues.

The AZHBPA continues to offer dental insurance, along with medical care. We have again contracted with a clinic close by to provide for our medical needs. Referral forms are available in the AZHBPA office.

Office hours are Monday through Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. You can contact the AZHBPA by phone at (602) 942-3336, fax at (602) 866-3790 or email at [email protected].

ARKANSAS HBPA

RECORD PURSES ON TAP FOR OAKLAWN IN 2016Oaklawn Park has released the first condition book for its 2016 live meet,

which begins January 15 and features the richest purses in track history for the eighth consecutive year.

Maiden special weights will be worth $68,000, an $8,000 increase over where they started in 2015, and open allowance races will be worth as much as $75,000, a $9,000 increase over where they started last year. The minimum purse will be $21,000 in 2016, up $3,000 from 2015. Overall, Oaklawn is projecting total purses of $27 million with an average daily distribution of $475,000 per day. This is a 12 percent increase over the 2015 meet and a 76 percent increase over where purses were when the streak of increases began in 2008.

“Oaklawn has had to reinvent itself several times over the course of our 112 years, but what has never changed is our commitment to offering world-class Thoroughbred racing,” Director of Racing David Longinotti said. “We are extremely proud of our business model that has helped generate higher purses year after year. These purses and the tremendous support we get from Arkansas racing fans are the biggest reasons Oaklawn is able to attract horses like Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.”

Oaklawn’s growing purses are thanks in part to booming business in its award-winning gaming operation that was expanded for a second time at the beginning of this year. Oaklawn Anywhere, an in-state advanced deposit wagering platform, also has been very successful, generating over $1 million in purses in 2015 and closer to $1.5 million in 2016.

Oaklawn, which had previously announced a record $7.55 million stakes schedule for 2016, opens Friday, January 15, and the season runs through Saturday, April 16. Horsemen seeking stall applications and condition books can email [email protected] or call the Oaklawn racing office at 1-800-OAKLAWN or (501) 701-5570. The first condition book is also available at oaklawn.com.

Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion or policy of the publisher or National HBPA board or staff.

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For the second consecutive year, the track received applications for more than 2,800 stalls—nearly twice the number of horses the barn area can accommodate. These applications came from 149 different trainers, including 33 who had never raced full-time at Oaklawn.

“While we’re certainly pleased with the number of applications, what we’re most excited about is the quality of the applications,” Racing Secretary Pat Pope said. “Currently, we have around 1,500 stalls, and this year, I only wish we had about twice that many.”

The barn area opened November 16 and training started on November 23.Horsemen returning in 2016 include Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, six-

time leading trainer Steve Asmussen, 2015 leading trainer Chris Hartman, Brad Cox, Ken McPeek, Steve Hobby, Chris Richard, Ron Moquett and Donnie K. Von Hemel.

Seven-time Sovereign Award-winning trainer Mark Casse returns for his third meet, and trainers Wayne Catalano, Robertino Diodoro and Tony Dutrow—who condition for prominent Arkansas owners Alex and JoAnn Lieblong and John Ed Anthony—are back for their second meets. They are being joined by Oaklawn newcomers Mike Maker, Patrick Byrne, Tom Proctor, Ignacio Correas, Tom Amoss and Genaro Garcia.

Danny Caldwell will be back in 2016 seeking his third consecutive leading owner title. On the jockey front, Ricardo Santana Jr. will seek his fourth title but is likely to face strong competition from Ramon Vazquez, Joe Rocco Jr. and Chris Landeros.

CHARLES TOWN HBPA

The CTHBPA co-sponsored the racetrack chaplain’s annual picnic at the Ranson, West Virginia, Moose grounds with Ranson Mayor David Hamill and Mrs. Hamill in attendance. There was plenty of good food, homemade desserts and fellowship. Activities included the traditional moon bounces, face painting and, of course, the horseshoe pitching competition. There were 30 door prizes donated by our local businesses. The silent auction had many interesting items to bid on but the bids on the framed photo of American Pharoah were of interest to all. It got down to two bidders, and jockey agent Arleen McCanns finally got the last bid in.

This year the marketing committee, headed up by Joe Funkhouser, has been extremely busy as you might have noticed by the newsworthy Facebook page for the CTHBPA. Growth Media came on board as our webmaster and has put together new items and 60-second video ads about year-round live Thoroughbred racing. Jim Surkamp, a local historian, was contracted to do a video on the history of racing in Jefferson County, West Virginia.

Owner/trainer Leslie Condon and CTHBPA staff member Patti Evans were appointed co-chairs to create a booth at the Jefferson County Fair, held August 16 through August 22. The booth’s theme was “racing” and included racing silks, jockey saddles, helmets, jockey boots, saddlecloths, bridles, blinkers and much more. It was all displayed on bales of straw and on split rail fencing that was put up by Condon, Evans, Elaine Hagy and Janene Watson. There was a table full of information about the CTHBPA and the West Virginia Thoroughbred Breeders Association (WVTBA). The visitors had an opportunity to learn about racing and to sign up for three giveaways: two Samsung tablets and a framed set of silks autographed by current and retired jockeys based at Charles Town. The framed silks were donated by trainer Linda Stehr. To win the silks, a person had to guess how many jelly beans were in a sealed gallon jar. The runner-up got the jelly beans. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey graciously agreed to do the drawings and announce the winner of the silks. Many thanks

to all of those who gave of their time, including jockeys Matt McGowen and Isaac Barahona for being on hand in their riding attire.

On October 1, CTHBPA President Randy Funkhouser made a presentation to the Jefferson County Commission asking for its support for year-round live Thoroughbred racing. He presented the resolution with approximately 3,500 signatures in support of year-round live racing.

Valley Equine Associates celebrated its 50th anniversary with a picnic-style luncheon. One of the clinic’s founders, Ernest Benner, DVM, was on hand, along with the current doctors and staff, to greet the many old friends and new that attended to share in the celebration.

On West Virginia Breeders Classic weekend, we were honored to have some of our state legislators visiting for the festivities. The CTHBPA and the WVTBA hosted a tour to acquaint our guests with the racing and breeding industry in Jefferson County. They visited the backside shed rows and met trainers. They had an opportunity to see the paddock, jockeys’ quarters and the officials’ viewing stand, and they were invited to the Breakfast of Champions followed by a visit to Valley Equine Associates. Our guests then boarded a bus for a tour of Southern States Feed and Supplies; met one of our local farmers, who provides hay and straw to our horsemen; and visited a newly built horse farm facility. Next was a driving tour through our county showing them many of our historical homes, horse farms and other points of interest. The trip ended with a tour of an established training farm and a breeding farm.

Nurses from our county health department were on hand to administer flu shots to 50 of our backstretch workers. This clinic was sponsored by the CTHBPA and held in the CTHBPA office.

The CTHBPA wishes all of you a very happy holiday season.

FLORIDA HBPA

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENTBy Bill WhiteGrassroots advocacy efforts, back-door attacks on the Interstate

Horseracing Act and haphazard gaming policy are among the many challenges horsemen share in various permutations nationwide. Florida certainly has had no shortage of any of it this past quarter.

In response, the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association has taken a leadership role on virtually all fronts this year as it seeks to re-establish the importance of our members’ hard work and contributions to the Sunshine State economy through their many businesses, employees and individual efforts.

Our FHBPA Board has taken on a new vigor, applying hands-on participation and engagement, with results evident in our newly redesigned website, 30-plus percent increases in our aggressive social media platform traffic and outreach, and a communications program featuring horsemen stepping forward to take the reins and redefine our community citizenship statewide. We’re also making the effort to recognize and educate others on the difficult issues faced by our members doing business in other states.

Uniform Medication Implementation Not Without HurdlesEchoing the National HBPA’s opposition to the federal Barr-Tonko bill,

the FHBPA also has been front and center as Florida regulations begin to take shape in the wake of hard-fought medication uniformity legislation signed by Governor Rick Scott this past June. FHBPA Executive Director Kent Stirling and I testified in two separate hearings at the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering this year on implementation of the new law, voicing our strong


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concern for the need to have a fair, consistent and reasonable timeframe in which Class 3, 4, and 5 drug violations are not counted as accumulating factors in the administration of penalties.

As I stated in my testimony, trainers who have demonstrated their willingness to comply with the rules should not have minor medication violations hanging indefinitely over their heads. As it currently stands, the overwhelming majority of trainers would be compromised, threatened or harassed by the implementation of Florida’s proposed rule. We are urging state regulators to give trainers the opportunity to have a clean slate, given compliance over time.

Second Consecutive Florida Sire Stakes a SuccessMeanwhile, the FHBPA partnered with our colleagues at the Florida

Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association and Gulfstream Park for the successful second consecutive running of the Florida Sire Stakes. The series has increased purses from $2.5 million in 2014 to more than $3 million in 2015, a 20 percent jump attributable to the extraordinary success of its introduction at Gulfstream last year.

Anti-Decoupling Campaign Rockets Out of the GateWith Florida’s legislative session set to begin two months earlier than

usual in January 2016, the FHBPA is bracing for the strong possibility that Florida lawmakers could attempt to “decouple” the 10-year old mandate of live racing from slot machines—effectively giving carte blanche to pari-mutuel facilities to immediately stop all live racing if they choose. For those tracks that continue to race horses, dogs or hold jai alai games, the resulting plummeting purses would kill business, regardless. Not a rosy picture but our FHBPA Board and members have once again fearlessly stepped up to the plate to conceive and lead a statewide public awareness campaign entitled “NoDecoupling.com.”

Our slogan “Because Casino Revenue Earned in Florida Should WORK for Florida” taps into Governor Scott’s jobs and economic development agenda with the contention that Florida must do more for our state’s existing businesses, rather than effect bad public policy and a hostile climate that ultimately eliminates jobs.

Featuring the National HBPA, the campaign was immediately joined by celebrity Florida trainers the McKathan brothers (who broke American Pharoah) and SNL Financial founder-turned-Thoroughbred trainer Reid Nagle, whose company recently sold for $2.25 billion. Together, with showcasing other Florida business owners who choose to invest their disposable income on Florida horse racing, the campaign also netted substantial support from the Florida Quarter Horse Racing Association (the Florida Chapter of the AQHA) and the Florida Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association, the local chapter of the U.S. Trotting Association.

To convey our message, NoDecoupling.com deployed hard-hitting advertising in Florida’s top political publications, focusing on a three-week special legislative session. Backed by daily press releases on the issue, information from NoDecoupling.com was also sent to FHBPA members—many of whom do business worldwide—urging them to contact their Florida senator and state representative to voice their request for “No Decoupling.” The Ocala Star Banner—the home newspaper for Marion County, in which most of Florida’s famed breeding farms are located—agreed with NoDecoupling.com, picking up our campaign points, as well as specifically mentioning the FHBPA in a Sunday editorial board opinion.

FHBPA lobbyist Herb Sheheane called from Tallahassee to relay the good news: Our campaign is working and has brought a wave of legislators who have said they would absolutely oppose decoupling of horse racing. However, those same legislators may not oppose decoupling dog racing or jai alai,

which horsemen realize will ultimately be the “slippery slope” the casino-only advocates need to wipe out all types of live horse racing in Florida forever.

The day before the Breeders’ Cup, the FHBPA was gratified to learn that Florida Senator Dorothy Hukill of Marion County had clearly seen our message and responded on her own with a glowing and statesmanlike tribute to Florida’s horsemen: a resolution honoring the McKathan brothers for their work and contributions to Florida’s economy.

Florida Represented at Breeders’ CupIndeed, it is only thanks to continued live racing days and competitive

purses that Florida was so well represented at this year’s Breeders’ Cup, with an estimated 60 or more horses having been bred or trained in Florida at some point in their careers prior to starting in the “Super Bowl” of Thoroughbred racing this year. FHBPA Board members David Fawkes, Milton Wolfson, Kathy Davey and Marcus Vitale joined fellow Florida trainers Kathleen O’Connell, Stanley Gold, Marty Wolfson and Jorge Navarro at this year’s Breeders’ Cup, along with a cadre of trainers from New York and other states who annually choose Florida as a prime location in which to ramp up their valuable horses to major league status.

Slots Now Up to Florida Supreme Court in Pari-Mutuel Barrel Racing SagaAmid all the success, the FHBPA remains vigilant as we await the Florida

Supreme Court, which will rule on whether Gretna Racing LLC can install slot machines at its North Florida facility in Gadsden County. Labeling this highly troubling prospect as “de facto decoupling,” the FHBPA took the opportunity to remind legislators that the Gadsden slot referendum was based on “pari-mutuel barrel racing,” which was ruled and upheld on appeal to be afoul of Florida law. A glimmer of hope emerged in late October, when the state of Florida suddenly filed a legal complaint against Hamilton Downs, which had been conducting “flag drop” events along with Gretna. After years of licensing this unsanctioned activity, the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering now states that it is “not real horse racing” and is contrary to the 2013 “pari-mutuel barrel racing” ruling from which Florida’s horsemen emerged victorious.

Executive Director Search to Wrap UpAmid the legislative and regulatory furor, the FHBPA planned to wrap up

its national search for a new executive director at the end of November. Chaired by Pinnacle Racing Stables’ Adam Lazarus, the search committee is seeking to fill the position with someone who will have overall strategic and operational responsibility for FHBPA programs, its staff and our mission—a dynamic leader who will develop and advance programs to promote Florida horse racing.

The new executive director will represent the organization throughout Florida and nationwide in all matters affecting horsemen and the horse racing industry. Based at the FHBPA’s Hallandale Beach office inside of Gulfstream Park, he or she will work with racetrack management, state officials and lawmakers, as well as with various racing and breeding associations.

GULFSTREAM PARK SUMMER MEET AND 21 DAYS AT GULFSTREAM PARK WESTHow has summer racing fared at beautiful Gulfstream Park? According

to the average purses paid, one would have to say things are going pretty well. This year, Gulfstream’s summer meet began July 1 and ran to October 3 for 55 days of racing, Thursday through Sunday. Average daily overnights paid were $240,432, and total average daily purses paid, including stakes, were $347,741. That’s up significantly, 17 percent, from last year’s daily overnights of $205,719. Total purses paid daily were up 35 percent from last year’s $256,970. Last year, there was no million-dollar Summit of Speed or a Florida Sire Series that included 3-year-old Florida-breds. The only surprising thing about the 2015 meet was that starters per race dropped from 9 to 8.6.

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Remember, last year was the first year Gulfstream ran without competition from Calder after Gulfstream leased what is now known as Gulfstream Park West (GPW) for the next five years. So those were pretty impressive increases in purses for Gulfstream’s second summer meet. One must also realize that even when Calder was successful, before Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI)’s recent involvement, it never offered purses close to what Gulfstream has paid. It is certainly amazing what advertising your product can do for your results!

The Fall Turf Festival began October 7 at Gulfstream Park West. Fans were encouraged to wager at Gulfstream Park rather than from the tents at GPW, as CDI denied the use of the old Calder facility, which stands empty next to the tents Gulfstream was forced to use for the racing fans for this race meet.

You might ask how negatively that has affected wagering handle and purses at GPW? Well, average daily overnights were $207,387 for the first 21 days from October 7 to November 1, just up from the $206,879 paid during the same period in 2014. Total purses paid during this timeframe this year were $221,673 compared to last year’s $228,734. Starters per race were 8.2 this year, down from 8.7 last year.

Operating from the tents, on-track live handle is down 10.4 percent this year. But live handle is up over 29 percent on interstate wagering (ISW), which is wagering on Gulfstream in other states and countries. All wagering, whether it is live on track, ISW or live intrastate wagering (wagering in Florida but not at Gulfstream), is up a net total of 24.3 percent. Average daily handle on GPW live product this year is over $3.5 million, while last year it was just over $2.8 million.

The Stronach Group is making what was formerly known as Calder relevant again. They have taken what appeared to be a failed track and breathed life into it to the point that it is much more successful now than it was in its heyday just six or seven years ago. The Stronach Group has done many things to make this happen, but nothing has been more important than its advertising program for Gulfstream Park West. It is indeed amazing what a good advertising program can do for a racetrack and apparently any racetrack.

It certainly appears as if Gulfstream’s summer racing program is getting stronger every year. This, of course, makes South Florida a great place to race year-round.

GROOM ELITEFor the

past nine years, the FHBPA has hosted the Groom Elite Program in South Florida at both Gulfstream and the track formerly known as Calder. The

program’s cost has always been split between the track and the FHBPA, and for the past five years or so, there has been at least one 201 Class that gave further equine knowledge to graduates of the 101 Classes.

The Groom Elite Program began in Texas and has been taught by Dr. C. Reid McLellan since 2006. McLellan was a teaching professor at Louisiana Tech for 15 years. After that, he trained horses for eight years and then became racing education manager for Sam Houston Race Park until 2005. McLellan has taught Groom Elite at 30 tracks in 17 states and currently teaches the program at five prisons throughout the United States.

This year, 14 of the 18 who took Groom Elite 101 passed and were eligible for the 201 Class. Each graduate got a beautiful jacket, a graduation certificate, an I.D. card and a $100 check from the FHBPA. The Groom Elite 101 Class consisted of 10 two-and-a-half- to three-hour classes followed by two days of assessment before graduation (pictured). Twelve grooms have signed up for Groom Elite 201, which consists of five three-hour classes and one day of assessment.

Groom Elite has been a very worthwhile program for the horsemen of South Florida, and we hope it continues. His Place Ministries Chaplain Tom LaPointe

has always been helpful in seeing that the program is successful every year. Assistant Chaplain Alberto Grimaldi is most important to the program as he is the translator for all of McLellan’s classes.

BACKSIDE DOINGSAs usual, things were busy on the backsides…The Chaplain’s new van

was first used to help transport more than 40 backsiders to the dock for a night of drift fishing (pictured)…Barbecues were held on the backsides of both Gulfstream and Gulfstream Park West…The FHBPA and Gulfstream sponsored the annual back-to-school event where backside children at Gulfstream Park, Gulfstream Park West and Palm Meadows Training Center received book bags full of supplies along with food and snacks…The summer soccer league had five teams participating with Chapines (pictured with some of their children) beating Colo Colo in the championship game…A softball game to raise money for disabled jockeys found the jockeys beating a team from Gulfstream Park management…Bags of food with a large container of laundry detergent were given to 80 families living near Gulfstream Park, Gulfstream Park West and Palm Meadows.

INDIANA HBPA

NO TRICKS, MANY TREATS: SUCCESSFUL 2015 INDIANA GRAND MEET ENDS ON HALLOWEEN

The recently completed Thoroughbred and American Quarter Horse meet at Indiana Grand produced high levels of excitement, solid gains in overall handle and the promise of a great future at the Shelbyville, Indiana, track. The 120-day race meet concluded on a rainy Halloween night, October 31, with plenty to look forward to next year.

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With the implementation of Trakus and an upgraded broadcast presentation, simulcast handle showed a dramatic increase. Local promotions and increased advertising brought racing fans to the track in large numbers. Once there, they found better racing, many additional food options and an enhanced entertainment experience.

The signature Indiana Derby was run in July for the first time and was rewarded with much better weather than its previous October time slot. In fact, the Indiana Grand meet lost no days to weather in 2015.

The 14th season saw a dramatic increase of 21.99 percent in combined racing handle and an increase in combined per race handle of 17.19 percent.

YEAR-END AWARDSThe Patrick family brought in the bulk of the awards for the meet. Gary

Patrick earned leading trainer honors, Cindy Patrick won leading owner and their daughter, Cheyanna, won as the leading apprentice jockey for 2015.

Already the track’s all-time leading trainer, Gary completed this year’s meet with 40 wins and more than $919,000 in purse earnings. Kim Hammond finished in second place with 34 wins, while Michael Lauer earned third place with 32 wins.

For the second year in a row, Cindy Patrick was presented with the leading owner award. Horses owned by Cindy won 37 races in 2015 and earned more than $843,000 in purses this year.

Albin Jimenez earned the meet’s leading jockey award with 108 wins and more than $2.7 million in purse earnings. He won his first title at the Shelbyville track despite missing five weeks during the meet due to injury. Last year’s winner, Fernando de la Cruz, was second, with 97 wins.

2015 INHBPA ELECTION RESULTSOn October 1, the Indiana HBPA counted ballots, re-electing President

Joe Davis for another three-year term. The election also established owner and trainer directors for the INHBPA board.

INHBPA counted all ballots received up to and including that day’s mail at the office of the accounting firm supervising the INHBPA election process, in the presence of the INHBPA election committee and candidate representatives.

President Davis and the new board began their three-year terms on October 5.

Owner directors elected include Merrill C. Roberts, Kathryn Kunz Duran, Ron McKay, Penny Lauer and Kim Hobson. First alternate is Blaine Davidson.

Before the first meeting of the new board, Hobson resigned, and accordingly, as first alternate, Davidson joined the board. The new first alternate is Larry Smallwood.

Trainer or owner/trainer directors include Kim Hammond, Tianna Richardville, Michael E. Lauer, Randy Klopp and Marvin Johnson. First alternate is Steve Fosdick.

The Indiana HBPA would like to recognize and thank former Director Gale Bess for his service to horsemen during his three years on the board.

“I’d like to thank all horsemen and women who demonstrated their willingness to work for Thoroughbred racing by putting their names up for election,” President Joe Davis said. “And, thank you to those members who cared enough about Indiana to participate in our future by voting.”

TENTATIVE DATES FOR 2016With the end of the 2015 racing season, we can start planning for

the 2016 Indiana Grand Thoroughbred racing season. Dates are not official until they are approved by the Indiana Horse Racing Commission, which was

scheduled to take up the question at its December 9 business meeting. Centaur, the owner of both Indiana tracks, has indicated what its race dates request will be.

Centaur proposes racing four days a week, from April 19 through May and June. We would then race five days a week in July and August, followed by four days a week through the end of the meet, October 29.

By contract, the track backside should be open at least 35 days before opening day, barring weather delays. Please check the INHBPA website at inhbpa.org for more information.

IOWA HBPA

IA HBPA OFFICE MOVEOnce again our office was moved to the fourth floor of the casino on

October 31. Usually we remain on the front side until the end of February, and then we move to our backside office. Although we have changed location, our address and phone numbers remain the same.

Also, our office will remain busy planning for the opening of the 2016 race meet at Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino. We are planning for a 99 Basic Grooming Class, a 101 Groom Elite class, our annual awards dinner and the Adventureland outing.

In addition to the basic classes, our office will conduct a full Groom Elite Program later in the summer. Each category will be examined and will be assigned an instructor for that day. Not much can be accomplished without cooperation from others. The Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders Association (ITBOA) always lends a hand with ponies and the tack needed. This past year, ITBOA also contributed monetarily to the program. The racing office provides lunch each day for the full program and afternoon snacks and drinks for the basic classes.

BACKSIDE UPKEEPAs is typically the case during the off-season here at Prairie Meadows,

there are improvements being made to the backside for the betterment of the horses and horsemen. Currently Prairie Meadows is doing the following work:

• After testing the track, additional clay and silt was added to the surface mixture.

• The barn area roads had some surface cracks that are now being sealed.• Dirt is being added to stalls and broken boards are being repaired or

replaced.• All barn rafters are being washed down to rid them of dust and cobwebs.• Drainage was worked on around the exerciser, including replacing the

material in the exerciser with sand to help with drainage.As always, please visit the Iowa HBPA Facebook page to stay current on

our news.

IOWA COALITION FOR RACING AND BREEDING FORMEDDuring the 2015 racing meet, questions arose about the future of the Iowa

racing and breeding program. With that in mind, a coalition composed of the Iowa HBPA, ITBOA and IQHRA was formed.

Please read more about it on our “More Horse Power—No Limitations” campaign letter, which you will find reprinted here.

Dear Iowa Racing Participant,

The horse racing industry in Iowa is stronger than ever before. A 16.7 percent increase in track attendance

at Prairie Meadows and a significant increase in Iowa breeders over just five years show that a growing

number of people here are looking to horse racing for business and entertainment.

Horse breeders and owners around Iowa are helping

to support our state’s ag-centric economy by providing

the basis for thousands of skilled jobs and millions in

revenue each year. In light of this valuable contribution,

legislation was created in 2011 that protects purse

allocations for the sport with no effective end date.

This legislation ensures that, short of a major change

in the law, our ability to own, breed and race horses will

remain unchanged through 2019 and beyond. There is

currently no plan to reconsider this law in 2019, and by

showing your support of this legislation, you have the

power right now to make sure it is renewed for many

years to come.

As someone who is close to horse breeding and racing

in Iowa, your voice is needed to help educate the public

about the great economic importance of this unique

industry to our state.

To help lead this effort, the Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association, the Iowa Quarterhorse

Racing Association and the Iowa Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association are launching a media

campaign in central Iowa this November. The campaign will use television, online, direct mail/email and social

media marketing to educate the general public about the broad economic benefits of horse racing in Iowa.

This represents a big push for our industry, and we need everyone to be a part of it.

You know better than anyone that the horse industry in Iowa is an important economic engine that supports

the entire state — please help spread the word!

Sincerely,

Deb Leech Tom Lepic Leroy Gessmann

President, ITBOA President, IQHRA President, IAHBPA

P.S. Your participation is important! To discuss it further, please contact me directly at [email protected],

or Tom Lepic at [email protected], or Leroy Gessmann at [email protected].


MORE

HOW YOU CAN HELP Become an advocate of the valuable economic and agricultural impact horse owning, breeding and racing has on Iowa. Some things to keep in mind:

Horse racing purses are allocated by law and have no end date, 2019 or otherwise.

Owning, breeding and racing horses in Iowa employs 2,100 people every year.

Track attendance at Prairie Meadows is up 16.7% over the past 5 years.

The combined number of registered thoroughbred and quarter horse breeders in Iowa has risen significantly over the last five years.

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KENTUCKY HBPA

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGECongratulations to Keeneland on its successful first presentation as the

host of the Breeders’ Cup. Keeneland President Bill Thomason, Chief Operating Office Vince Gabbert, Vice President of Racing Rogers Beasley and the entire staff received accolades from horsemen and fans alike for their staging of the momentous event.

I read with interest about Ed Martin, president of the Association of Racing Commissioners International (RCI), when he expressed his views against federal involvement in racing. Many horsemen share his views. This effort to involve the federal government started years ago, when some prominent owners and organizations began publicly denigrating the sport of horse racing. Dinny Phipps, chairman of The Jockey Club, began using the annual Round Table at Saratoga as a bully pulpit to suggest federal legislation is the only answer to address the “rampant” use of drugs in racing. He introduced the forum to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) as the group that can clean up racing’s supposed sullied image. Yet as Ed points out, USADA’s guide for human athletes includes permission to run with performance-enhancing drugs in their system such as caffeine, tramadol, morphine, hydrocodone, nicotine, oxycodone, pseudoephedrine and heroin, along with 30 other drugs. Categories of USADA approvals include narcotics, stimulants and hormones.

As I have expressed earlier, one of the major concerns with USADA’s involvement is the legislation’s intent, as Ed mentions, to give a private entity in Colorado unchecked ability to effectively shut down racing by denying authority to simulcast. Let me give you an example. Each year, Churchill Downs provides the KHBPA with a list of proposed locations that they would like approval to send the simulcast signal of Churchill’s races for wagering. Simulcast wagering is nearly 90 percent of wagering, which funds horsemen’s purses. The KHBPA is judicious in providing approval only to locations that support live racing. Rarely are there more than three or four sites that we may decide to veto. However, in the federal legislation after this process takes place between the racetrack and KHBPA, USADA then gets a bite of the apple. If they decide several jurisdictions are not conforming to their edict on medications in horses, say for example they want Lasix eliminated on race day and California, Florida or other jurisdictions decide Lasix is beneficial, then USADA can unilaterally decide not to send the Kentucky Derby simulcast to these locations. That type of action would cripple our purse structure at Churchill Downs.

One of the supporters of USADA’s involvement has indicated to me that that type of action by USADA would not be acceptable, and USADA would be stopped from doing such an egregious act. Keep in mind that in the federal

legislation USADA will control the board, and besides why does anyone think USADA wanted this power in the first place, other than to force jurisdictions to conform to their agenda?

On a final note, it was great to see my good friend Don Ball, longtime chairman of the Kentucky Racing Health and Welfare Fund, at a recent fund board meeting. Don is regaining his strength after a lengthy illness, and many of us appreciate his advice and counsel, along with his caring and kind gestures for the backstretch community. Welcome back, Don.

Smoke and MirrorsThe principals behind federal legislation that is purported to establish

integrity in Thoroughbred racing espouse the theory “don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.” But let’s examine some of the specifics of the legislation.

Race-Day Lasix Is EliminatedIt has been widely reported that race-day Lasix will not be a casualty of

the proposed federal legislation. Yet on page 3, section 4, it states, “The use of therapeutic medications in Thoroughbred horseracing in the United States must place the health and welfare of the horse at highest level of priority while achieving consistency with the uses permitted in major international Thoroughbred horseracing jurisdictions including the use of race-day medication.”

It is obvious from this statement that the intention is to be consistent with international Thoroughbred horse racing, which prohibits Lasix on race day.

Further in the same section, it states that “such rules, procedures and enforcement policies should be implemented, consistent with internationally accepted best practices, by an independent anti-doping organization authorized by an Act of Congress.”

Once again, the proposed legislation addresses being “consistent with internationally accepted best practices.” No Lasix is allowed on race day in most foreign jurisdictions.

On page 17 of the proposed legislation, section 7, titled “Outline of the Thoroughbred Horseracing Anti-Doping Program,” subsection (a), it states, “The Thoroughbred horseracing anti-doping program shall take into consideration international anti-doping standards, including the World Anti-Doping Code. …” (emphasis added) On the website of the World Anti-Doping Code, under the 2015 prohibited list, section 5 titled “Diuretics and masking agents,” furosemide (Lasix) is prominently listed as a prohibited substance.

In conclusion, anyone who is reporting that race-day Lasix will not be eliminated by the proposed federal legislation either has not read the bill or does not understand it.

Dear Iowa Racing Participant,

The horse racing industry in Iowa is stronger than ever before. A 16.7 percent increase in track attendance

at Prairie Meadows and a significant increase in Iowa breeders over just five years show that a growing

number of people here are looking to horse racing for business and entertainment.

Horse breeders and owners around Iowa are helping

to support our state’s ag-centric economy by providing

the basis for thousands of skilled jobs and millions in

revenue each year. In light of this valuable contribution,

legislation was created in 2011 that protects purse

allocations for the sport with no effective end date.

This legislation ensures that, short of a major change

in the law, our ability to own, breed and race horses will

remain unchanged through 2019 and beyond. There is

currently no plan to reconsider this law in 2019, and by

showing your support of this legislation, you have the

power right now to make sure it is renewed for many

years to come.

As someone who is close to horse breeding and racing

in Iowa, your voice is needed to help educate the public

about the great economic importance of this unique

industry to our state.

To help lead this effort, the Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association, the Iowa Quarterhorse

Racing Association and the Iowa Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association are launching a media

campaign in central Iowa this November. The campaign will use television, online, direct mail/email and social

media marketing to educate the general public about the broad economic benefits of horse racing in Iowa.

This represents a big push for our industry, and we need everyone to be a part of it.

You know better than anyone that the horse industry in Iowa is an important economic engine that supports

the entire state — please help spread the word!

Sincerely,

Deb Leech Tom Lepic Leroy Gessmann

President, ITBOA President, IQHRA President, IAHBPA

P.S. Your participation is important! To discuss it further, please contact me directly at [email protected],

or Tom Lepic at [email protected], or Leroy Gessmann at [email protected].


MORE

HOW YOU CAN HELP Become an advocate of the valuable economic and agricultural impact horse owning, breeding and racing has on Iowa. Some things to keep in mind:

Horse racing purses are allocated by law and have no end date, 2019 or otherwise.

Owning, breeding and racing horses in Iowa employs 2,100 people every year.

Track attendance at Prairie Meadows is up 16.7% over the past 5 years.

The combined number of registered thoroughbred and quarter horse breeders in Iowa has risen significantly over the last five years.

I.T.B.O.A.

Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners

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USADA Is Provided with a Simulcast Veto Right in Federal LegislationThe proposed legislation on page 2, section 1, states that “This act does

not modify or eliminate any of the consents, approvals or agreements required by the Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978. …” Yet on page 9, section 4, titled “Jurisdiction of Authority for Anti-Doping Matters and Condition for Acceptance of Wagers,” under subsection (b) on page 10, “Condition for Acceptance of Wagers,” it states, “The jurisdiction and authority of the Authority are hereby imposed, in addition to compliance with the Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978, as conditions upon the privilege to accept, receive or transmit wagers on covered horseraces and to participate in such races.”

There is no question, according to this language, that a condition for acceptance of wagers requires participants to comply with the anti-doping authority. In other words, even if the horsemen and racetracks consent to send the simulcast signal to a specific jurisdiction, if the anti-doping authority decides that jurisdiction is not in compliance with its edicts then that jurisdiction will be denied the simulcast signal. As stated earlier, simulcasting revenue generates nearly 90 percent of purses. Should the anti-doping authority decide not to send to various jurisdictions, this would have a devastating effect on racing

USADA Will Have Total Control of Board in Federal LegislationUnder Section 5, subsection (b) titled “Composition,” the proposed

legislation lists how the Thoroughbred Horseracing Anti-Doping Authority board will be appointed. Subsection (c) titled “Conflicts of Interest” says that to avoid conflict of interest, no nominee or board member shall be “an individual who has financial interest in or provides goods or services to covered horses” or “an official, officer, or serve in any governance or policymaking capacity for any Thoroughbred industry representative.”

In other words, to serve on the board of the new Authority, you can have no involvement whatsoever with the racing industry.

USADA Will Be Totally Funded by Horsemen, Yet They Will Have No Say in the Governance

Under Section 12, titled “Funding,” it states, “The funds necessary for the establishment and administration of the Thoroughbred horseracing anti-doping program shall be paid entirely by the Thoroughbred horseracing industry in accordance with following provisions: … (2)…the Authority shall determine and provide to each state racing commission the estimated amount required per racing starter to fund the Thoroughbred horseracing anti-doping program.”

The entire cost of the anti-doping program will be funded by horsemen on a per starter basis. There is nothing in the proposed legislation to indicate how USADA will arrive at its budget or just what the figure per starter might be.

This is just a thumbnail sketch of some of the more onerous provisions included in the proposed legislation.

Rick Hiles, Kentucky HBPA President

ON-SITE MOBILE PRE-RACE EQUINE WELLNESS EXAMSBy David Nash, DVMI am an equine veterinarian based in Kentucky, with 25 years of experience

treating racing Thoroughbreds and conducting research for a variety of human and animal health care biotechnology corporations. I grew up on Long Island, New York, where my father, Joseph S. Nash, was a successful Thoroughbred horse trainer at Belmont Park. My family has been involved in horse racing in Kentucky for many generations. My great-grandfather bred a Standardbred named Guy McKinney, who won the first running of the Hambletonian Stakes, which was held at the New York State Fair in Syracuse in 1926.

I have witnessed great changes in the horse industry and unfortunately witnessed a steady decline in the public interest in our great sport. Many individuals and groups have called for change, and countless articles have been written warning us that if we fail to change the sport will continue a downward spiral. Well-funded animal rights organizations have in recent years stated that we are indifferent to the welfare of the horses that are in our care.

Following the death of Eight Belles in the 2008 Kentucky Derby and a series of scathing articles in the New York Times and elsewhere, Thoroughbred industry leaders were scrambling to repair the public image of horse racing. Great change has occurred in the past seven years. The question I asked myself is how did we get into this predicament in the first place? I believe the answer is that we failed to be proactive in addressing animal health and welfare issues and instead were consumed with reacting to public criticism after it was published by the media. I propose that we change gears and become proactive in an effort to demonstrate to our critics that we deeply care about the welfare of our horses, thereby heading off problems before they occur.

We currently spend enormous amounts of time and millions of dollars per year on pre-race physical exams, analyzing racing surfaces for safety, accrediting drug testing labs, accrediting racetracks, conducting out-of-competition drug screening tests, providing enhanced security measures for certain races, analyzing post-race blood and urine samples and conducting

David Nash, DVM

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postmortem examinations on horses that die. All these are laudable efforts to improve the public image of racing. However, we currently do not collect and analyze pre-race blood samples to determine that our horses are healthy prior to being saddled in the paddock.

We need a new approach that is proactive and easy to understand for the public. Currently, there is little to no global monitoring of the health of horses even though they are the most valuable of livestock and Thoroughbreds travel across the globe. For example, we do not know what bacteria normally exist in the equine respiratory tract, which is called the microbiome. Most horse trainers and racetrack veterinarians are all too familiar with equine respiratory disease, which costs our industry millions of dollars per year.

I propose that we begin conducting pre-race equine wellness exams, where we perform complete blood tests, serum chemistry analysis and measure biomarkers designed to detect a variety of health-related issues including, but not limited to, cardiac health status. Now horse racing could declare that we are doing more than any other sport in the world to assure that our athletes are healthy prior to racing. These tests would be conducted on-site in a mobile laboratory at our racetracks with results being available immediately. The public will understand that this program is similar to a child receiving a thorough physical exam prior to participating in school sports. The ability to measure equine health of large numbers of racing Thoroughbreds will allow us to look for changing trends that could provide valuable data needed to keep our horses healthy and safe.

The equine wellness exam test samples would be valuable in being able to perform future epidemiological studies in an effort to prevent equine infectious disease outbreaks. Additionally, should a horse die on track, the laboratory results, obtained prior to injury or sudden death, could be critical in determining the cause of death. A serum sample would also be kept so that we are not dependent upon only a postmortem blood sample anymore.

Human medicine is making huge strides in providing doctors with the ability to perform advanced diagnostic tests on-site or in their medical offices. Frustrated with the status quo of veterinary medicine, I sought to develop new tools to allow veterinarians to be able to do a better job of preventing disease or injury. Earlier this year, I and five researchers from the University of Illinois and the University of Washington were awarded a $1 million National Science Foundation Grant designed to develop a portable, battery-operated device that will allow us to detect 10 different equine respiratory disease causing agents (pathogens) from a nasal swab and/or trans-tracheal wash sample at the point of care. The device is designed to test for all pathogens at the same time with results in two hours. Imagine being able to diagnose equine herpesvirus and other infectious equine respiratory diseases at your barn.

Many argue that racing’s greatest days are over. Nonsense. I believe that if we put our differences aside and focus some energy on screening our horses for health and welfare then we can restore the public trust that we are good stewards of the horse.

THE HBPA IS YOUThe HBPA, established in 1940, is an organization of owners and trainers

numbering approximately 30,000 nationally in 23 states and Canada and more than 6,000 in Kentucky. The association is governed by a board of directors consisting of owners and trainers volunteering their time and elected by the membership every three years. The HBPA is committed to working for the betterment of racing on all levels.

The HBPA represents owners and trainers on several fronts:• The HBPA is present in negotiating sessions with each racetrack

regarding purse structure, equitable share of simulcast revenues, overall

track safety, sanitation and security. • The HBPA provides benevolence to horsemen in need, education and

recreation programs to the backstretch, and various insurance packages that include—free of charge to members—fire and disaster insurance and claiming coverage. Visit one of the fully staffed HBPA offices at the currently running racetrack in Kentucky for details.

• The HBPA works in conjunction with the chaplaincy program and the Kentucky Racing Health and Welfare Fund to provide support and benefits for horsemen.

• The HBPA supports scientific research and marketing initiatives on a regional and national level to help promote interest in Thoroughbred racing.

• The HBPA is at the forefront in litigation and legislation on issues involving horsemen’s rights in regard to interstate simulcasting, proprietary rights, casino gambling, therapeutic medication, sports betting and many other areas of concern to horsemen.

How can I join? You are invited to drop by the HBPA office to meet the staff and learn more about current projects and how you can get involved in helping to improve the industry. There are no membership fees. Remember, this is your organization. Become an active participant and one of the horsemen helping horsemen. To join, all you need to do is fill out our membership card and fax, mail or email it back to us. For more information, please visit our website at kyhbpa.org and click on “How to Join.”

LOUISIANA HBPA

Thoroughbred race meets are in progress at Fair Grounds and Delta Downs. The meet at Delta Downs, which began October 16 and concludes March 12, features Louisiana Premier Night on February 6 with more than $1 million in purse money to be awarded. Fair Grounds’ meet, which began November 19 and ends March 27, includes Louisiana Champions Day on December 12, Road to the Derby Kickoff Day on January 16, Louisiana Derby Preview Day on February 20 and Louisiana Derby Day on March 26.

The American Quarter Horse meet is in progress at Evangeline Downs. The meet began September 30 and goes through December 19 with the running of the Evangeline Downs Futurity and Evangeline Downs Derby. The Quarter Horse meet at Louisiana Downs begins January 9 and concludes March 23. The Mardi Gras Futurity, Mardi Gras Derby and Harrah’s Futurity will be the featured races for the meet.

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Delta Downs Racetrack & Casino 2015-2016 Race Meets

2717 Delta Downs Dr., Vinton, LA 70668 * 337-589-7441 * www.deltadowns.com

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

October 2015 February 2016 June 2016 03 04 05 06 01 02 03 04 10 11 12 13 08 09 10 11 16 17 17 18 19 20 15 16 17 18 21 22 23 24 24 25 26 27 22 23 24 25 28 29 30 31 29 30

November 2015 March 2016 July 2016 04 05 06 07 02 03 04 05 01 02 11 12 13 14 09 10 11 12 06 07 08 09 18 19 20 21 24 25 27 28 46 Quarter Horse Days 86 Thoroughbred Days

December 2015 April 2016

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December 2015 March 2016

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January 2016 81 Thoroughbred Days

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Fair Grounds Race Course 2015-2016 Race Meets

1751 Gentilly Blvd. New Orleans, LA 70119 504-944-5515 * www.fairgroundsracecourse.com

Harrah’s Louisiana Downs 2015-2016 Race Meets

8000 Hwy 80 East, PO Box 5519, Bossier City, LA 71171 318-742-5555 * www.ladowns.com


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Evangeline Downs Racetrack & Casino

2015-2016 Race Meets 2235 Creswell Lane Extension, Opelousas, LA 70570 Toll Free: 866-4-Racing * www.evangelinedowns.com


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MINNESOTA HBPA

Canterbury Park and the Minnesota HBPA would like to announce the 2016 race dates. Canterbury Park horsemen and horsewomen will enjoy 69 live race days beginning Friday, May 20, and running through Saturday, September 17. The mixed meet will run May 20 through August 20 with the Thoroughbred-only meet picking up from there through September 17. Purses for the 2016 meet will be approximately $200,000 per day. Canterbury Park will be offering a full line of stakes, with a Mystic Lake Derby purse of $200,000. Our fantastic daily purses and stakes are thanks to our agreement with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. We look forward to another successful race meet in 2016.

Minnesota HBPA President Tom Metzen was elected National Vice President at the summer convention in Denver.

Have a happy, safe holidays!

MOUNTAINEER PARK HBPA

RACING DATES UPDATEWith declining video lottery

revenues, increased competition and the effects of legislation that reduced the amount originally intended for the purse funds, Mountaineer Park racetrack was forced to reduce days and purses. This reduction in racing days was the result of the Mountaineer Park HBPA taking a hard look at our future and determining that we needed to maintain the current purse structure.

As a result, the last day of the 2015 racing meet was held on October 17. The barn area remained open through October 31. Now that the backside is closed, management

is working to make improvements. The backside was recently repaved and shed rows and stalls are being filled and leveled. The maintenance work on the backside will continue through the winter months.

The Mountaineer HBPA hosted an end of the racing meet breakfast in the Derby Kitchen for all horsemen and those associated with racing at Mountaineer. The Mountaineer HBPA also hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for those in the dorms and local horsemen in the Derby Kitchen.

The Mountaineer HBPA has been working on compiling a contact list for emails and group texts to keep horsemen and women informed of events impacting our industry. According to recent news reports, the 2016 West Virginia legislative session will once again prove to be controversial. With a state budget deficit, the Mountaineer HBPA will have to work hard with West Virginia Racing United to protect our purse funds from the legislature as it looks to balance the budget. There will be updates and calls to action on our webpage, Facebook and Twitter pages. The Mountaineer HBPA is encouraging those who own farms in Hancock County to join the local Farm Bureau.

MOUNTAINEER PARK CHAPLAINCYThe chaplaincy distributed turkeys provided by Mountaineer Casino

Racetrack and Resort to those on the backside for Thanksgiving. The Mountaineer Park Chaplaincy hosted a children’s Christmas party on December 14 in the Clubhouse. Members of the backstretch community were asked to sign up before the end of the meet. The Chaplain also has a food and clothing pantry available for those in need.

WEST VIRGINIA RACING COMMISSION RETIREMENT PLAN FOR BACKSTRETCH WORKERS

Those who participate or wish to participate in the West Virginia Racing Commission Retirement Plan for Backstretch Workers can sign up for 2015 program year in April. Allocation reports for 2010 and 2011 will be mailed to participants, and allocation reports for 2012–2014 will be available in the Mountaineer HBPA office at the end of December. If you are not able to pick them up, they will be mailed to participants.

The Mountaineer HBPA would like to wish all a joyous holiday season!

NEBRASKA HBPA

Here in Nebraska we are on the verge of a historic effort that will give our industry a tremendous shot of energy. The group Keep the Money in Nebraska is seeking a petition initiative effort to let Nebraskans vote on expanding gambling in the state. If successful, games of chance would be allowed at licensed horse racing facilities.

The group cited recent polling that indicates 60 percent of Nebraska voters now support expanding gambling in the state. To be successful, they will need signatures from at least 10 percent of registered voters on an initiative to add a constitutional amendment to allow games of chance and 7 percent on two additional initiatives to tax and regulate games of chance.

We all know these efforts are huge undertakings, but they have our full support. This is the opportunity we needed to save our rich tradition of horse racing in Nebraska. Please encourage all of your Nebraska contacts to jump on board by signing and helping circulate the petition. They can visit keepyourmoneyne.com.

NEW ENGLAND HBPA

MORE DATES ON TAP FOR SUFFOLK DOWNS IN 2016By Lynne SniersonWhen your three-day live meet is a smashing success, what do you do for

an encore? Come back in 2016 with double the days of live racing.With the November 12 Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s approval of

Suffolk Downs’ request for six dates next season, track management and the New England HBPA are moving ahead with short-term plans to keep racing and breeding alive in the state until a permanent solution can be achieved.

After the ownership group of the 80-year-old track announced in September 2014 that it had no intention of offering live racing in the future because its gaming partner failed to win the license for the only Boston-area casino, the industry seemed doomed. For months, NEHBPA board members worked assiduously to hammer out a lease agreement of the track in hopes of hosting a meet of up to 65 days, but with a shortage of available race-ready horses and not enough money to cover all of the administrative and operating costs, it appeared they had hit another dead end.

Mountaineer’s meet ended October 17.

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But the NEHBPA refused to give up, and Suffolk Downs did not want to give up its simulcasting rights. After legislation passed in March that renewed the track’s license and allowed it to simulcast through July 31, 2016, as long as it hosted live racing for a minimum of one to a maximum of 50 days per calendar year, negotiations heated up. Still facing a significant shortage of horses and money, the result was a contractual agreement for three days of what would become popular live racing festivals with food trucks, craft beers and complimentary family fun activities at Suffolk Downs on three separate Saturdays spaced four weeks apart. The festivals were run under the aegis of the nonprofit New England Horsemen’s Agricultural and Horse Racing Corporation, with longtime racing industry executive Lou Raffetto as its president.

The horsemen and the fans, numbering an average of 10,000 per day, embraced the concept enthusiastically. Purses offered were about $500,000 per card, thanks to the state’s new Racehorse Development Fund (RHDF), and preference at the entry box was granted to horsemen who had supported the Suffolk program in 2014. In addition, purses were paid back to fifth place, with a “runner’s reward” of $800 to those finishing further back, as well as a $200 trainer’s shipping bonus.

The result was that the program was stacked each day with 11 to 13 races, and field size averaged about eight horses per race. With the takeout reduced to 15 percent across the board on all wagers just in time for the second and third days, both the on-track and simulcast handles were healthy. Moreover, the New England owners and trainers benefited greatly, despite concerns by some that out-of-town horsemen would ship in and take the money and run.

For the combined three days of racing, NEHBPA statistics reveal that the connections of 227 of the 282 horses that ran—or 80 percent—had New England ties. Those local horsemen earned $1,110,850 of the $1,563,700 paid in purses, or 71 percent.

The Massachusetts Thoroughbred breeders were aided in a big way. Each of the three programs carded three stakes restricted to state-breds for a total of nine, and while purses were $50,000 for each race on the first festival day, they increased to $75,000 each for the other two days.

Since the RHDF is supplied by a percentage of the license fees and revenue from the state’s only slots parlor, which opened in June, as well as from the destination resort casinos in development, that fund can only continue to grow. The RHDF is split 75 percent/25 percent Thoroughbred/Standardbred, with each breed’s allotment divided 80 percent to purses, 16 percent to breeders and 4 percent to backstretch welfare. But the money for Thoroughbred purses can only be awarded as long as there is live racing in-state.

The owners of Suffolk Downs have made it consistently clear they continue to proceed with plans to develop the valuable property for real estate. Consequently, even though the duration of the live meet will be doubled to six days in 2016 and purses are expected to remain around the $500,000 per day level, it is only a stopgap measure.

In a proactive move, the NEHBPA has formed a nonprofit corporation and is currently working with state legislators for approval of innovative plans to develop and operate a state-of-the-art equine center and racetrack on another site.

“The gaming commission’s [November 12] decision allows us to move forward with our plans to race in 2016 so that we can keep in mind the long-term goal of building a permanent facility to guarantee the longevity of Thoroughbred racing in Massachusetts,” said Anthony Spadea, president of the NEHBPA. “The only way that we know how to do that is to control our own destiny by being able to build our own facility that is run by horsemen, for the benefit of horsemen. This is what we have believed from day one.”

In related news, gaming commissioners also approved on November 12 the application from the owners of the Brockton Fairgrounds to conduct 30 days of live racing in 2016 on the five-eighths-mile track. Racing has not been held at the venue since 2001, and the approval is conditional.

One of the conditions is that the track, which no longer has a safety rail installed, must make a good faith effort to receive accreditation by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Safety and Integrity Alliance division for fair tracks. Another is that they must race on different days than Suffolk, which is an accredited NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance track.

At this time, the NEHBPA has filed a formal request to initiate a purse agreement with the Carney family, who owns the Brockton Fairgrounds, and discuss the required facility improvements. The Carneys told state gaming commissioners that they expect to open with the purse level at an average of $100,000 per day, although they could go higher dependent upon the resources available in the RHDF at that time.

OHIO HBPA

OHIO RACE DATES FOR 2016Live racing dates for 2016 have been set for Ohio’s three Thoroughbred

tracks. ThistleDown and Mahoning Valley Race Course will each conduct 100 days of live racing in 2016. Belterra Park will run 93 days next year.

As a part of the Ohio HBPA’s VLT revenue sharing agreements for ThistleDown and Mahoning Valley, those two Northeastern Ohio tracks will not have any overlapping dates during the year and will combine to race year-round.

Mahoning Valley’s winter-spring meeting will begin January 2 and race through April 23. The track will conduct live racing on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays through mid-March, when Wednesdays will be dropped from the schedule through the remainder of the meet.

ThistleDown’s live racing season will begin on April 25 and race through October 22. Racing will be conducted on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays during the meet with the exception of the month of August, when there will be no racing on Fridays.

Mahoning Valley’s fall meet will begin on October 28 and run through December 28. Racing will be conducted five days each week in November on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Fridays will be dropped from the schedule in December.

Belterra Park’s live racing season will begin on May 1 and run through October 8. Racing will be conducted on a Thursday through Sunday schedule each week.

THOROUGHBRED HORSEMEN’S HEALTH FUNDThrough contributions made by the Ohio HBPA, the Thoroughbred

Horsemen’s Health Fund has established a retirement assistance program that will begin in 2016 with contributions in 2016 based upon certain requirements being met during 2015. Below is an outline of the plan.

Application forms for the plan will be available in the main office as well as in the OHBPA field offices by January 1 with a due date of May 1, 2016.

Eligible ParticipantsTrainers: Must have 40 starts at Ohio Thoroughbred tracks during

2015 with a minimum of 51 percent of the trainer’s total starts during the year occurring at Ohio Thoroughbred tracks or at least 100 starts at Ohio Thoroughbred tracks during 2015.

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minimum of nine months during 2015 as verified via a form signed by the trainer, as well as holding an OSRC license and providing a W-2 or 1099 verifying a minimum of $7,500 for the year.

Fund Contributions Eligible Trainers: $3,500 Stable Employees: $2,000

Vesting RequirementsFive years of participation in the program will be required to be vested.

Trainers who have met the program start requirements during any calendar year from 2000 to 2014 shall receive credit for one year toward vesting for each year they met the start requirements during this time period.

Investment Options Plan participants will be able to choose from a number of investment

funds available through Fifth Third Bank and will also have access, without charge, to speak with Fifth Third investment advisors. Plan participants will be able to change investment funds at their discretion.

Plan participants will have online as well as in person access to their account balance, performance, etc.

Retirement Age Normal Retirement Age: 65 years old Early Retirement Age: 55 years old

Payout Will be made over a five-year period with the vested participant receiving

one-fifth of their total account balance the first year, one-quarter of their remaining account balance the second year, one-third of their remaining account balance the third year, one-half of their remaining account balance the fourth year and their entire remaining account balance in the fifth year.

HBPA OF ONTARIO

HBPA OF ONTARIO ELECTS NEW BOARDThe HBPA of Ontario is pleased to announce the election of its new board

of directors to a three-year term. The new board is as follows:Owners: Veronica Attard, Conrad Cohen, William Diamant (Vice President),

Stanley Fishman, Sam Lima, Sherry McLean Trainers: Roger Attfield, Mark Casse, Nick Gonzalez (Vice President), Sue

Leslie (President), Danny Vella (Secretary-Treasurer)The HBPA of Ontario extends its thanks to all of the candidates who took

part in the election process and would like to thank outgoing director Lynne Hindmarsh for her years of service on the board and her dedication to the association and our members.

CHANGES TO THE ELIMINATION GUIDELINES FOR METHYLPREDNISOLONEOn October 19, the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency (CPMA) released the

upcoming changes to the elimination guidelines for methylprednisolone, effective January 1.

• Single 100 mg intra-articular injection elimination guideline is now 144 hours (6 days).

• Single 200 mg intra-articular injection elimination guideline is now 336 hours (14 days).

• CPMA is removing the elimination guideline for all other dosages.The CPMA does warn owners and trainers that elimination of

methylprednisolone from horses can take an extended period of time and should

be governed accordingly. Please consult your ORC licensed veterinarian for advice and guidance when using any medications.

FORT ERIE RACE TRACK With the 2015 season now complete, the HBPA of Ontario Board of

Directors would like to congratulate all of the hardworking and dedicated horsepeople who contributed to making this a successful racing season at Fort Erie.

While the HBPA of Ontario and the Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium continue working hard to ensure the future of racing at Fort Erie Race Track, it is the unrelenting commitment and spirit that you, the Fort Erie horsepeople, have shown in entering your horses, filling race cards and collaborating in record-breaking wagering handles that made this season the strongest it has been in several years.

The HBPA of Ontario Board of Directors wish you all the best in the winter months and look forward to seeing you all back at Fort Erie for the 2016 racing season.

WOODBINE RACE TRACK: POLYTRACK TO BE REPLACED WITH TAPETAEarlier this year Woodbine Entertainment Group announced that Tapeta

would be installed on Woodbine’s one-mile main track in time for the 2016 Thoroughbred racing season. Construction on the track was scheduled to begin on December 1. Closing date for the 133-date meet was set for November 29.

POSITIVE TESTS: A HORSE TRAINER’S NIGHTMAREBy Conrad J. Cohen, Chair, Ontario Rules and Medication CommitteeThe current rules and protocols regarding the detection and declaration

of a “positive test” in a racehorse are unfair, contrary to the principles of fundamental and procedural fairness, and have the effect of hurting, not supporting, the reputation of the horse racing industry.

It appears Canadian regulators are content to sacrifice the reputations and livelihoods of hard-working, honest horsepeople, to create a public perception that “cheaters” are being caught. This cannot be allowed to continue.

It is unfair and misleading: • When a horse is disqualified, horsepeople are penalized and the industry

publically flogged on the basis of the declaration of a “positive test” even where the medication could have had no pharmacological effect whatsoever.

• When the government’s ultra-sensitive testing procedures can and do declare a “positive test” even when the level of medication detected is in nanograms or picograms—safe for human drinking water.

• When the penalty for detection of a medication producing a pharmacological effect is the same as when there is no possible pharmacological effect.

• When government laboratories refuse to disclose their confirmation limits.

• When it is impossible to protect a horse from exposure of an environmental contaminant.

• When a positive test is an “absolute liability” offense, giving horsepeople no opportunity to demonstrate their due diligence and honest behavior.

• When a first offense, even for an environmental contaminant, can be a one-year suspension, a fine of $5,000, trainer’s reputation discredited, cancellation of purse winnings and immediate curtailing of the horse from competition.

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It would be in the best interest of racing if industry regulators employed the scientific knowledge of the 21st century and a common-sense approach to the detection of inadvertent and insignificant levels of medications and environmental substances. This includes therapeutic medication elimination guidelines, published thresholds and quantitative analysis of environmental contaminates.

MESSAGE FROM LONGRUN REGARDING THE RETIREMENT OF YOUR THOROUGHBREDS

With the end of the Thoroughbred racing season recently passed, we encourage you to do your best to ensure that your horses are well looked after if they are ready to start an alternative career. Should you be looking at retiring and rehoming any of your horses, LongRun is available to help, even if there is no room in the program. We are happy to advertise your horse and do due diligence through farm inspections, reference checks and follow-up visits should an appropriate home be found. We also encourage you to have in place a proper bill of sale that contains an anti-slaughter, no right of sale at public auction clause to help ensure your horse’s safety and humane treatment. Should you require such a document, we are happy to assist you by providing you with a generic bill of sale including said clauses. Thank you for looking after our equine athletes!

IMMIGRATION UPDATEWe wanted to give you a brief update with respect to immigration and the

temporary foreign workers program.We are trying to bring about changes that would allow employers to

sponsor the workers they require on the backside. As you all know, the federal government changes the legislation, and this makes it very difficult to get an exception to the new law.

Until the new government is formed, we don’t even have a name to communicate with and knowing the pace of government it will be some time before the new Minister of Immigration gets his team in order.

We don’t anticipate a quick fix to this problem. Now that we know we are dealing with a liberal government, we are looking into the viability regarding hiring a lobbyist in Ottawa that may be able to help.

We are working with a legal firm that is willing to work with us and members regarding the Labour Market Impact Assessment app in terms of evaluating and processing. This is an expensive route but may be the only option in the near term to get some success. Please contact the HBPA of Ontario track office for more detailed information.

THOROUGHBRED RACING ASSOCIATION OF OKLAHOMA (OKLAHOMA HBPA)

OKLAHOMA RACE DATES SET FOR 2016The Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission in October approved racing dates

for Oklahoma’s tracks in 2016. There will be a total of 97 Thoroughbred race dates between Remington Park and Will Rogers Downs, plus 34 days of mixed racing at Fair Meadows. The commission also approved 78 days for American Quarter Horse, Appaloosa and Paint racing.

Following are the Thoroughbred and mixed dates:Remington Park (67 dates)August 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27, 31September 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30

October 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29November 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 25, 26, 30December 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 11Will Rogers Downs (30 dates)March 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30April 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, 16, 18, 19, 23, 25, 26, 30May 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 14, 16, 17, 21Fair Meadows (34 mixed dates)June 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30July 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30

STALLION STAKES FORMS AVAILABLE FOR 2016 BREEDING SEASONHorsemen are reminded that changes have been made to the Oklahoma

Stallion Stakes starting with the breeding season of 2016 (foals of 2017). All progeny of nominated stallions are now eligible for the Stallion Stakes free of charge. A one-time stallion nomination fee each year provides eligibility for all foals of the nominated stallion for that breeding season. The stallion must be an accredited Oklahoma-bred, and to receive Oklahoma-bred monies, the nominated foal must also be an accredited Oklahoma-bred.

The nomination fee for stallions is $1,000 by December 31, 2015, with no late nominations.

A stallion bonus will also be paid based on the number of nominated stallions. All monies received from stallion nomination fees will be divided equally for each race and split on a 60/20/11/6/3 percent basis for the top five finishers. If 40 stallions are nominated, a stallion bonus of $20,000 per race will be paid with the winning stallion earning $12,000.

The Oklahoma Stallion Stakes will consist of two races for 3-year-olds in 2020, one for fillies and one for colts and geldings, with an estimated purse of $50,000 each. The races will be run at Remington Park.

If you have any questions or need a nomination form, call the TRAO at (405) 427-8753 or go to traoracing.com.

REMINGTON PARK MEDICAL CLINIC FOR TRAO MEMBERSIn August 2015 at the start of the Remington Park Thoroughbred meet,

the TRAO, with the help of Dr. Mark Lipe, opened up an on-site medical clinic serving all eligible TRAO members. Lipe has been an avid breeder for more than 10 years and stands three prominent stallions in Oklahoma. His intentions were to give back to the industry.

“This clinic has been a goal of mine for many years, and without the help of the TRAO, this wouldn’t be possible,” he said.

The medical clinic is open for walk-ins every Monday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. All patients are seen on an as-needed basis for all health care needs. The clinic is designed for sick patients and those in need of refills for other previously diagnosed chronic illnesses. The clinic has been a huge success and has seen more than 100 patients since it opened. One of the many positives of the clinic is receiving prescriptions the next day without any out-of-pocket expense to the patient or the unneeded travel to and from a doctor.

In November, the medical clinic administered more than 116 flu vaccinations for owners, trainers and their employees. The TRAO also offers other health services, including dental and optical. If you would like more information on how the TRAO can help you, please visit our website at traoracing.com or contact the office at (405) 427-8753.


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OKHBPA/TRAO OWNER AND BREEDER ELECTIONS FOR 2016–2018 TERMBallots were mailed on November 16 for the OKHBPA/TRAO owner

and breeder elections for the 2016–2018 term. All return ballots must be postmarked no later than December 31, 2015. Following are the candidates:

Owner DirectorWilson BrownDanny CaldwellTim Denny Dave FaulknerSteve SchooleyMichele WilliamsRobert Zoellner

Breeder Director Randy BlairFrancisco BravoEllen CainesBoyd CasterJoan CharltonC.R. Trout

PENNSYLVANIA HBPA

The Pennsylvania HBPA’s New Start program has, since 2013, facilitated the rehoming of more than 270 racehorses that were retired from Penn National Race Course. The retirees, who range in racing ability from multiple stakes winners to those too slow to consider a career in racing, are riding a surge in popularity for Thoroughbreds. They’re transitioning into post-racing careers as varied as dressage, eventing, polo, polocrosse, foxhunting, barrel racing, showing, breeding and as pleasure horses. Whatever discipline they’re trained in, Thoroughbreds are making believers of horsemen not accustomed to their intelligence, versatility and athleticism.

The Retired Racehorse Project presented the Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium late in October at the Kentucky Horse Park, where six New Start alumni were selected to compete with 195 other Thoroughbreds from across North America. The Makeover was intended to showcase recently retired Thoroughbreds who have just started training in new disciplines. Participation in the Makeover was so large that an expanded program is in planning for next year.

Locally, Crossroads Tack Shop sponsored a Thoroughbred-only show this summer at the Quentin Show Grounds. The event was billed as a benefit for New Start, and Crossroads recently presented a $2,000 check to the program.

New Start is funded by a $10 fee levied on all starters at Penn National and works with a network of 14 foster farms. Horses are given to the foster farms along with a foster fee, which is based on the condition of the horse and decided upon by the New Start committee. The foster farms provide any required rehabilitation and are able to adopt out the horses.

Not all horses are physically able to transition into a new and demanding career. To serve those horses, New Start has established a relationship with Touch of Kindness Sanctuary in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. There, the horses can live out their lives in vast pastures at their own pace.

All owners and trainers stabled at Penn National are eligible to donate horses to New Start. For more information, go to newstartforhorses.com or contact the PA HBPA.

TAMPA BAY DOWNS HBPA

Welcome as we begin the second leg of the 2015–2016 race meet. Live racing will wrap up on Sunday, May 8, 2016, until the Summer Festival of Racing, which will be held June 30 and July 1.

Tampa Bay Downs has instituted a new policy regarding the administration of race-day Lasix. Lasix will no longer be allowed to be given by your veterinarian and will be administered by veterinarians hired by Tampa Bay Downs for this sole purpose. Lasix fees will be $25, and monies will be collected by Tampa Bay Downs. There is also a new policy banning glass on the backside.

Mark your calendars for the annual HBPA backside Christmas party, which will be held on Monday, December 21. Hamburgers, hot dogs and all the fixings will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Come join us for the holiday celebration and spread some good cheer!

Tampa Bay Downs HBPA will be hosting the National HBPA Winter Convention on February 3-7 at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater, Florida. Events planned for that week include an “Afternoon at the Races,” where convention attendees will be treated to a luncheon as guests of Tampa Bay Downs.

Among the improvements made to the backside over the summer is the addition of a regulation horseshoe pit and volleyball court. Many thanks to TBD Track Superintendent Tommy McLaughlin, Jason Leone of Exact Builders and all involved for their time and effort in making this possible. The volleyball and horseshoe equipment, donated by the TBD HBPA, will be available for check out at the TBD HBPA office during normal office hours.

TBD Vice President and General Manager Peter Berube has informed us that the track will match the horsemen’s contribution to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. The Alliance is charged with the daunting task of accrediting and allocating funds to Thoroughbred retirement organizations across the country.

As in the past, the TBD HBPA is proud to sponsor the following not-for-profit organizations:

• Bakkas Equestrian Therapeutic Riding Center, Odessa, Florida• Equestrian Inc., Tampa, Florida• The Holiday Sharing Fund, Oldsmar, Florida• Step Ahead Thoroughbred Retirement Inc., Odessa, Florida• Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, Lexington, Kentucky

Don’t forget to stop in the office on Saturdays for coffee and donuts. Best wishes for a happy holiday season and a prosperous New Year.

A regulation horseshoe pit and volleyball court have been added to the Tampa Bay Downs backside.

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WASHINGTON HBPA

2016 RACE DATES SET FOR EMERALD DOWNSA 70-day racing season beginning Friday, April 9, and ending Sunday,

September 11, has been announced for 2016 at Emerald Downs.

The racing dates were approved at the Washington Horse

Racing Commission’s monthly meeting in November at Auburn City Hall. The schedule includes a 20th anniversary celebration in June and the introduction of Saturday night racing for four weekends in July.

Racing will be conducted on Saturdays and Sundays for the first two weekends with Friday night racing added to the schedule beginning April 22. Four-day racing weeks will take place Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend and also for the track’s 20th anniversary celebration June 17-20. The 20-year anniversary is officially saluted Monday, June 20, with a special 6:30 p.m. card marking exactly two decades since the track’s opening in 1996.

In a first, Emerald Downs offers Saturday night racing on July 9, 16, 23 and 30. First post is 6:30 p.m.

“Saturday night racing might bring out a different demographic, and we also have late daylight and prime weather in July,” said Emerald Downs President Phil Ziegler. “We also feel with the stronger horse population we saw last year that we’ll be able to support a handful of four-day race weeks in 2016.”

Post time remains 2 p.m. all other Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, except Kentucky Derby Day, Saturday, May 7, when first post is 1 p.m. Post time Fridays is 6:30 p.m., and the annual Fireworks Spectacular is Sunday, July 3, with first post at 4:30 p.m.

The 2016 stakes schedule, including the 81st running of the Longacres Mile (G3), will be announced in January.

OWNERS BENEFIT FROM INCREASED PURSES AND TRAINERS REWARDED Horsemen’s incentives and a significant increase in overnight purses

attracted more horses to Emerald Downs in 2015. Last winter, Emerald Downs announced a 20 percent purse increase for lower-level claiming races and also added several incentives to lower training costs for horsemen. These enhancements resulted in several first-time Emerald Downs’ trainers. The on-track horse population sailed over the 1,000 mark for the first time in three years. Average field size showed a healthy increase, going from 6.27 horses in 2014 to 6.86 in 2015. With the larger field size, daily average handle soared 10.7 percent at the 70-day Emerald Downs’ meeting that concluded September 27.

The Emerald Downs’ brand also grew substantially, showing a 16 percent increase in selling of its races in 2015.

First-year Emerald Downs President Phil Ziegler credited the successful meet to the track’s strong financial foundation built by Ron Crockett and the

continued commitment from the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, which officially acquired the track in March 2015 and has enhanced purses the past 12 seasons.

Said Ziegler, “The success we experienced this season would not have been possible without the support of our track founder Ron Crockett, who continues to play an integral role at Emerald Downs, and the Muckleshoot Tribe, who own our company and have invested over $13 million in purses since 2004.”

Stakes races fared well too, with an average field size of 8.0 for 27 Thoroughbred stakes, including an overflow field for the $200,000 Longacres Mile (G3). On-track attendance also showed a slight gain in 2015, and fans on-track enjoyed a new 1,100-square-foot jumbo video screen atop the tote board in the infield.

Stall applications for the 20th anniversary season at Emerald Downs were to be sent out in early December and will also be available online at emeralddowns.com under the “Horsemen” tab. For more information on why you should be part of the 2016 Emerald Downs season and racing in Washington State, contact Director of Racing Bret Anderson at (253) 288-7751 or [email protected] and/or the Washington HBPA at (253) 804-6822 or [email protected].

STRYKER PHD REPEATS AS 2015 HORSE OF THE MEETINGJim and Mona Hour’s Stryker Phd was voted Horse of the Meeting, Top

Older Horse and Top Washington-bred for the second time as Emerald Downs announced its 2015 season honors on closing day of the track’s 20th season.

A 6-year-old Washington-bred gelding, Stryker Phd was unbeaten in four starts including a second straight victory in the $200,000 Longacres Mile (G3), becoming only the fourth two-time winner of the Northwest’s most historic race

and first two-time winner at Emerald Downs.

During the 70-day meeting, trainer Jeff Metz remarkably tied the single-season record of 66 wins

established by Tim McCanna in the 91-day 2008 race meet. This achievement earned Metz his third straight title and Top Training Accomplishment. Julian Couton captured the riding title with 100 wins. Leading American Quarter Horse trainer was Pablo Madrigal, and leading Quarter Horse rider was Javier Matias, who also ranks sixth in the Thoroughbred jockey standings.

Belle Hill, a triple stakes winner for Ross and Aithon Stables, was unanimously voted Top 3-Year-Old Filly, and Dr. Mark Dedomenico’s Prime Engine, six-length winner of the Emerald Downs Derby, was chosen Top 3-Year-Old.

Coach Royal, a 6-year-old gelding who began the meet in the $2,500 claiming ranks, was selected Top Claimer after a five-win campaign that included a win for a $25,000 tag.

Emerald Downs will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2016.

Washington-bred Stryker Phd earned his second straight Horse of the Meeting title.

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AFFILIATEN

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Other Emerald Downs 2015 Season Honors went to: Top Sprinter: Kikisoblu (KY)Top Older Filly or Mare: Lady Rosberg (WA)Top Juvenile Male: Mach One Rules (WA)Top Juvenile Filly: Princess Kennedy (KY)Leading Jockey Stakes Wins: Leslie Mawing (10)Leading Apprentice: Osvaldo Gonzalez (8)Leading Trainer Stakes Wins: Larry Ross (7)Leading Owner: Saratoga West (24)Top Riding Achievement: Leslie Mawing (leading stakes and LGA Mile) Durkan Award: Rosie Simkins, Rigoberto Velasquez (trainer or trainers recognized by the race office)Lindy Award: Leslie Mawing (rider recognized by jockey colony)

ROBERT LOPEZ APPOINTED TO WHRCAt the August 14, regularly scheduled Washington Horse Racing

Commission (WHRC) meeting, Commissioner Paul George announced his resignation, citing personal reasons. George was appointed to the WHRC in January 2006. He has been involved in the racing industry since 1971 as

general manager of the Yakima Valley Turf Club, director of communications for United Tote and simulcast director at Yakima Meadows.

George has been particularly dedicated to keeping live racing in Eastern Washington, a stance that is sure to endure after his retirement from the commission. The industry will miss his leadership and wishes him the best in the future. He is an avid handicapper and is looking forward to being able to bet on Emerald Downs and simulcast races, something that during his tenure he was very vocal about missing out on.

Governor Jay Inslee appointed Robert Lopez to the vacant commission position, which became effective on November 16. After 27 years of service on the Washington State Patrol, Lopez joined the WHRC first as the administrative services manager and later as the deputy secretary. In 2009, he was named executive secretary and served in that role until 2013.

Lopez’s tenure with the commission will certainly provide valuable insight and knowledge into industry issues and concerns. As executive secretary, he was an integral part of uniting the relationship between the commission, the WHBPA and racetrack management. Lopez is a good listener with solid knowledge of stakeholder rights and input with regard to regulation. The WHBPA welcomes Bob Lopez to his new leadership position.

64 HJWINTER 15

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Documents

The Horsemen's Journal - Winter 2015