LIVE BLOG: RCI FEATURING NICHOLSON, WALDROP
A couple of horse racing regulators, a politician and some industry leaders. What more could a fella ask for–ducks in a barrel?
That’s the starting line-up for this morning’s 75th annual convention of the Association of Racing Commissioners International from Lexington, Ky. To paraphrase from one of my favorite movies, “Apocalypse Now,” I love the smell of live blogging in the morning!
We’ll be live at ringside in Lexington, Ky., for as much of today’s activities as we can put up with (before making our own remarks to the regulators later in the day).
Here’s the batting order: Kentucky Horse Racing Commission chairman Bob Beck, followed by Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, RCI chairman Joe Gorajec (an executive with the Indiana Horse Racing Commission), and keynote speaker Nick Nicholson, the president and CEO of Keeneland, chairman of the American Horse Council, and a board member with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau. Nicholson is the hands-down winner of the longest resume on today’s program.
After a refreshment break, we hope to hear from Alex Waldrop, the president of the NTRA.
The excitement is building and the buzz in the room is damn near palpable. Let’s get ready to rumble!!!!!!!!
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9:10 a.m…. Opening remarks by Bob Beck were not overwhelming, but at least he warned us that he wrote them at 10:30 last night after a long dinner with fellow regulators. The only thing that stands out is this gem: "I want to congratulate RCI…I understnad this is the 75th anniversary of RCI, which is really something."
He didn’t tell us what that something is…on to the governor.
9:15 a.m. … Gov. Steve "Boogity Boogity" Beshear was a no-show, unless you count the magic of videotape. Yes, he videoed it in. Beck explained that the governor was really busy this time of year. Yes, checking out those NASCAR tracks and then asking for tax breaks for their billionaire owner is time consuming. Thanks, Gov. He asked the attendees to have and get around Kentucky to see all that it has to offer. "We are the horse capital of the world. We are the home of beautiful horse farms. For centuries,horses and horse racing have been an integral part of our culture and our economy. We have a lot riding on the horse industry here in Kentucky."
I’m betting more of them will drive up to the Belterra casino across the river in Indiana.
9:20 a.m. … Always thought Joe Gorajec was a bright and insightful guy. He quoted from the Paulick Report on something I’d written about the shelf life of "white papers" and urged the commissioners to go home and take action. That’s a good thing. How can I knock Joe? Gorajec cited a couple of articles from the current issue of Sports Illustrated that were extremely negative: Ernie Paragallo’s starving horses and Jeff Mullins’ "honest mistake" treating a horse in the Aqueduct detention barn. "The negativity is unprecedented," Gorajec said. "Hardly a week goes back without solme incident triggering an avalanche of criticism, from inside and outside the sport." For those who haven’t followed Indiana racing, Gorajec is a "hangin’ judge," imposing tough sentence on cheaters in Thoroughbred and harness racing. Other states should look to Indiana for leadership on regulations…and I’m not saying this just because he promoted the Paulick Report.
9:30 a.m. … Nick Nicholson …. how many of these speeches has he delivered over a lifetime in politics and racing? Slick Nick. Very entertaining story about the Blue Grass Stakes winner and the one-horse stable owner, former school teacher and principal Tom McCarthy. On to the serious stuff….
Nicholson calls the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance a "seminal moment" in showing "the industry and the country" that racing people can police themselves. Keeneland "killed a tree" to comply with the inspection team, he said. Hope he explains that one.
"I said at the press conference (when Keeneland was accredited) something I want to lead with this morning," Nicholson said. "I said at the press conference that day that this could not have happened without the competent regulation of the Kentucky Racing Commission. It would be impossible for Keeneland to be certified…were it not for the Kentucky Racing Commission." He then made executive dirctor Lisa Underwood and chairman Beck stand up to applause.
"We should not accept our status quo. We push ourselves to continually improve….We are all in this together. This could not have been done by Keeneland alone. The private sector and public sector have a joint necessity of working together."
Nicholson said he told Safety Alliance czar Tommy Thompson that Keeneland would not participate in the Safety and Integrity Alliance if the process was a publicity stunt or "whitewash." He was convinced that it wasn’t. "We are likely to have some stories and headlines that are unpleasant to read while we go through this process…but this industry has to improve a lot of what we do, so whatever bumps along the road we hit, and some will be substantial, it is worth and I am convinced we are going to be a better sport and a better industry for going through this process."
9:40 p.m. … ON to Washington, D.C. "This particular Congress is not concerned where the problem is but they are determined that they will be part of the solution," Nicholson says, "This Congress is going to be activist, this Congress is going to pass a lot of legislation. It is time to pay attention to what goes on." Nicholson quoted Ronald Reagan saying "government is the problem."
Here’s one for the horseplayers. Nicholson said the "best single thing" we can do this year in Washington is to get the I.R.S. off the backs of horseplayers who are fortunate enough to hit a ticket they have to sign for.
There will be a move to legalize internet gambling, he warned, and thinks it will be successful. "All sources of new revenue will be looked at and I’m convinced internet gambling will be one of them….You are going to see transporation legislation, slaughter legislation, animal welfare legislation, and this Congress is much more in a mood to pass something that sounds like a good idea than the last Congress." AHC will devote its next major meeting studying welfare issues.
9:45 p.m. … A forest and tree issue. "The entire economic survival of the modern pari-mutuel system is based on interstate simulcast. At least for the time being we have a virtual monopoly on interstate simulcast." The industry told Congress, Nicholson said, that it could trust the industry because it would be monitored and regulated effectively at the state level. "Any entity that gets into our pools should have a regulatory body, and if it were my say they would have a regulatory body that belongs to this distinguished organization." Horseplayer Mike Maloney erupts in applause. Maloney will speak later today on pari-mutuel integrity issues.
"Let’s talk about steroids," Nicholson says. "This time last year they were common around the race track. This year they are not. … Once this industry collectively decided it was time that we do something about steroids, you demonstrated…that we as industry can moderate ourselves and do it quickly. The steroids situation in America today is dramatically today than it was a year ago. … I understand it’s not perfect, but drugs and drug enforcement is not an area that you ever can declare victory. It’s a permanent, constant journey."
9:55 p.m. … Uniform rules? "We have made worlds of progress. .. We are more uniform right now in our medication and drug policies than we have been in modern times." But, Nick, how do we compare to other equine activities (Olympics, USET, etc.) or human athletics? Isn’t that a more legitimate benchmark than comparing today to our ridiculously un-uniform past?
10:00 p.m. … I sense and I hope that the time is upon us that we come closer to uniformity with the rest of the world. Europe and Asia are moving away from…zero tolerance policy," he said. "I am convinced that each and every one of us wants the end game to be the same: racing with integrity. As long as we get to that goal, that’s the key thing."
In closing Nicholson suggests the legacy of the 2009 RCI convention be that the regulators bring us to uniformity with one another and the rest of the world.
10:30 a.m. … Forgot to mention that Richard Thalheimer, a numbers runner for industry groups (also known as a research consultant) is on the agenda to send everyone who likes horse racing into a deep, deep depression. Pari-mutuel handle down over 50% over time since lotteries and the expansion of casino gambling. I’ve seen this movie before, for the most part. Short message: we are doomed.
But Thalheimer has a new twist based on a Prairie Meadows study. Live racing helps slots handle, as does simulcast racing. I guess the good news here is "racinos" that might consider getting rid of horse racing and just going with slots might be better off if they keep live racing and/or simulcasting. Who is the dog and who is the tail and who is being wagged here?
"Having slots at the track has saved our industry. On the other hand for the long run viability of our industry, (we) have to find ways to increase the pari-mutuel viability," said Thalheimer. He called it a "two-edged sword" that live racing helps slots, though slot machines reduce pari-mutuel handle. "Finally, I’d like to mention…racing has a viable product where you can sell your signal from ADW and online wagering. The time to do it is now."
10:40 a.m. … Alex Waldrop takes the stage. He promises to cover a lot of ground…"the economics of this industry mirror the overall economy." Waldrop blames the media for focusing too much on live handle or overall handle. He points out that "bringing competition into our facilities" (slots at tracks) has driven handle down. He cites slightly declining purses and a major decline in bloodstock prices. "Tracks are struggling….NTRA Advantage (group purchasing) is declining. … Magna bankruptcy, I don’t know much about it, but it’s not a good sign. We know that horse owners are struggling." He condemned the behavior of Ernie Paragallo but then linked it to the falling economy.
Waldrop even touched on the "rise of the bloggers" and the fall of newspapers and trade magazines in the industry. "I blog myself…I’m one of those bloggers. I do it to listen. I love to hear what the fans have to say," he said.
Legislatively, Waldrop said he feels online poker will be legalized by Congress but doesn’t think any other online gaming will be approved in the near future. He called what he thinks will be a proposal in Congress to regulate horse racing at the federal level a "very negative bill. … It may very well happen before Derby. I don’t think there’s much appetite in Congress, they’ve got other things to worry about."
10:50 a.m. … Touching on fans and the impact that the death of Eight Belles had on people, Waldrop spoke about how the Safety and Integrity Alliance came to be. He said revelations about Big Brown racing on steroids was a major concern with "core fans" and that the Eight Belles death had a bigger impact on "casual fans." After both incidents, he said, "Understandably there were calls for change….Others wanted a czar or commissioner. At the heart was a very serious and correct question: Does it have the will and can it change? Or is it doomed to disparate disjointed state by state regulations that is competitive and doesn’t represent the interest of the fans and the industry. That is the one we wrestled with at the NTRA last summer."
"We focused on safety and integrity." The integrity focus was more on therapeutic medication and drugs and not on wagering integrity, he said. "Not that wagering integrity isn’t important." Waldrop asked: "Is (the Safety and Integrity Alliance) an anti-regulation approach? Absolutely not."
He talked about the fans and the horses being the right reason to push the Safety and Integrity Alliance forward, hoping the perception of the industry will change gradually. "It’s got to be done at the state level. We want change and we want it now. We cannot talk our way out of these problems any more. You’ve got to be part of that process," he told regulators. If tracks aren’t accredited, "it will be on your shoulders." Tracks that aren’t acdredited "aren’t in the big leagues." Waldrop is drawing a line and telling the industry you’re either with us or you aren’t.
"I wake up every morning worrying ‘what the heck have I guess myself into.’ We’ve got eight tracks in the accreditation process"
Waldrop said the criticism of the NTRA is that the organization has no teeth. "You have teeth," he said to the regulators. "You’re our teeth."
1:45 p.m. … Bummer. There was a scheduled meeting of the RCI’s Wagering Systems and Tote Standards Committee, but chairman Frank Zancuccki of New Jersey had the SAD DUTY TO REPORT THAT A QUORUM OF THE COMMITTEE WAS NOT PRESENT. That’s not very encouraging. It’s not golfing weather today in Lexington and there’s no racing at Keeneland, so it’s hard to explain all the empty seats this afternoon that were mostly filled earlier today. Maybe some of the commissioners are resting up for the 5 p.m. cocktail party. Zanzuccki said Larry Eliason of South Dakota, chairman of the model rules commitee (and, apparently, the party committee), warned that the afternoon’s program on Wagering and Tote Standards, An Independent Assess of Regulation, Interstate Compact–a New Direction for Racing Regulation WOULD NOT spill over into the cocktail hour.
Thanks for getting those priorities straight, commissioner Eliason. Besides…tote problems? What tote problems? We don’t need no stinkin’ tote problems!
NOTE: I was told later that Larry Eliason was only kidding about not wanting the sesssion to overlap the cocktail party. I guess I’m lacking a sense of humor when it comes to tote integrity.
2:00 p.m. … Professional horseplayer Mike Maloney was introduced and began his presentation by urging commissioners to become familiar with a new organization, Horseplayers Association of North American (HANA), and he presented four things HANA would like to see achieved. all track signals available to accredited tracks, lower takeout, strict uniform medication and improved wagering security. Easy to state, hard to achieve, Maloney said. He talked about the confusion horseplayers have about wagering formats from track to track, especially on which races have trifectas or superfectas due to the different state rules that apply to field size of those races.
Maloney urged states to allow trifectas in small fields, something Kentucky has done. He said the handle increases when tracks do that. He then went on to talk about past-post wagering, late odds changes and wagering pool manipulation. Maloney called for wagering pools to close at one minute to post time. "That a bitter pill to swallow that we would ever have to do that," he said, "but it would solve these problems." He acknowledged that it would cause a reduction in handle. "But if that’s what we need to do, if a y ear or two from now if we are still sitting here and don’t have a solution, then I think we seriously need to consider closing the windows early enough so that the odds are final before the gates are open. That would bring back a lot of confidnece in that game."
Maloney also said he supports the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance. "I also support Alex Waldrop," he said. "I have a lot of faith and trust in Alex."
His final comment involved transparency. "Incidents of past-posting have been hidden from the public," he said. Maloney wants all rulings from commissions to be made available to the public. Maloney himself was involved in a past-posting incident he reported, but he said he has not been able to find out from the Louisiana Racing Commission where the investigation has gone. "Lack of transparency" hurts the game, he said.
I hope Mike sticks around for the cocktail hour. There will be more commissioners there that he can give the message to than there were in the room for the meeting on Wagering Systems and Tote Standards. It needs to be heard.
That’s about all I can take. That’s it from the RCI Convention, where the empty seats outnumber the empty suits.
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
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Tags: alex waldrop, association of racing commissioners international, nick nicholson, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, RCI, rci convention, steve beshear
April 21st, 2009 at 8:31 am
So what time does the “dogs talking about ponies show” start? Ray, I hope you have your questions ready and a sturdy permanent press shirt on when security escorts you out of the building. This should be good! Good luck and let’s see if the First Amendment is alive and well in KY.
p.s. Ask Nicholson why the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Farm Bureau is so cozy with the AHC????…and believes horse slaughter for human consumption is critical to the horse industry in North America….AAEP won’t be there???
April 21st, 2009 at 8:34 am
75 years, eh? doesn’t rci’s founding herald the decline of racing as a national sport? hmm. so let’s start by abolishing the rci and going to a truly national regulatory body with a very strong enforcement, no-drugs policy for starters.
April 21st, 2009 at 9:00 am
>>For those who haven’t followed Indiana racing, Gorajec is a “hangin’ judge,” imposing tough sentence on cheaters in Thoroughbred and harness racing. <>Nicholson calls the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance a “seminal moment” in showing “the industry and the country” that racing people can police themselves.<< I wonder how long the Alliance gets to fix some of the stickiest of problems, thereby truly proving the industry can effectively police itself. Will it be able to acknowledge - should it come to this - that there may, indeed, be some problems in racing it cannot repair without national mandates and nationally imposed punishments? Here is where the State racing commissioners really, really need to step up and be fierce in taking responsibility for imposing -at the very least - the rules suggested by the Alliance, the JC, Dr. Palmer’s group, and the drug consortium. The commissioners can do these things and still make money for their States from racing.
April 21st, 2009 at 9:20 am
uniformity ? right now there is no movement to deal with one of the worst problems in the industry….settlements ! We have had many breaches of takeout policy whereby settlements have not been made to players. This industry must be made to understand that monies outside of the the takeout percentages are not the property of the racetracks. It must study the SEC rule covering brokers whereby monies cannot be used for anything other than stock purchases. Settlements should be made in no less than a week to insure that players can retrieve their winnings in no less time. We have had and are undergoing serious breaches of settlement payments that will eventually lead to underfunding tracks for the payment of purses. Where are the regulators on this issue ?
April 21st, 2009 at 9:28 am
Um, why is it called the Association of Racing Commissioners International? What’s International about this line-up? Sounds like another regulatory circle jerk so far…
April 21st, 2009 at 9:45 am
Thanks for the blow by blow report Ray, makes me feel like I’m there!! Are you having any trouble staying awake?? I wish I was there to hear your segment. Good luck!!! Go get em!!!
April 21st, 2009 at 9:59 am
“Europe and Asia moving away from zero tolerance.” So, this means what? Instead of addrressing the issue in a meaningful way, we’ve just exported it. As for the Safety & Integrity Alliance, I’m always a little shy when an organizations starts throwing science at a problem. How exactly do you certify dirt? It seems like a knee-jerk reaction to catastrophic breakdowns that do and will occur in racing. The ‘whitewash’ is assuming that you can either prevent them or for that matter, explain them. That’s why they are called ‘accidents.’ Millions were spent on synthetic surfaces out of a public demand to make racing safer — a good thing on its own merits — but cause and effect remains elusive. So in the end it smacks of appeasement, not the reality of a tough game that seems to embrace the notion of winning at most, if not all costs.
Ray — we chipped in and have a plane idling at the Lexington airport. Just in case.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:14 am
nick nicholson was correct but in a way he never intended when he quoted reagan as saying that ‘government was the problem.’ well, that covers the rci, whose commissioners are all governor or state legislature appointed and many of them would not know one end of a horse from the other. nick and alex are probably doing the best they can, but neither has comprehensively addressed the fundamental collapse of confidence in this sport. and this collapse impacts handle and purses and everything else, but they don’t seem to get it: as long as you have one legal race day drug , you have a pandora’s box. is air power legal? which stimulatory substances does bute and lasix mask? how about snake venom? you could send the industry bankrupt devising tests for the various substances that vets and trainers think will make a horse run faster longer. the polo pony disaster is, to me at least, a salutary warning that if we keep pumping our animals with chemicals we are going to have disasters, whether one horse at a time or en masse.
ray, you are doing a great job, but one poll question you might put to your readers to answer: will you have confidence that the horse that wins the kentucky derby is truly the best horse or whether it merely has the ‘best’ vet? i think that is the core, overarching question which none of these speakers has addressed: the profound lack of confidence in the industry’s efforts to police itself.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:43 am
The whole story comes down to pa guy’s query about the derby winner for 2009 — will it be the best horse or will it be the work of the best vet. Ray, you are a fine fellow for sharing this silliness with us poor wretches. For me, if racing does not offer a clickable URL that lists current and past drug violations for trainers (as the CHRB does), I am most likey going to be gone fishin’ by this time next year. Quick question for the blog readers: Larry Jones just got his first-ever drug sanction. Presuming Friesan Fire runs in the derby, how many of the remaining 19 trainers have been sanctioned less than twice in their careers?
April 21st, 2009 at 11:00 am
RE Waldrop - the economics of the industry were bad before the crash; casual fans might actually become core fans if racing cleans up.
RE Nicholson - drugs could easily become an area where racing could declare one kind of victory by banning all drugs.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:26 am
Yep, banning all drugs starting with this new crop of two year olds. Start clean somewhere.
Travis Tygart, chief executive of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said in front of Congress last year that “a sport cannot police itself”. Damn right!
Mr. Gorajec was the only good guy so far. Joe Gorajec is to racing what Sheriff Joe is to Mariposa County, AZ. Both are trail blazers and sadly, exceptions. I have always appreciated Gorajec principals for Indiana racing, but he is not just a talker, he has done great things to bring integrity to racing. Yet he stands as an island surrounded by a sea of jellyfish. Ray, are the Kentucky Boys considering Mr. Gorajec a pariah for making them look terrible?
Horse racing should split from the AHC whose biggest mission is to keep horses classified under livestock with all that it implies. Horse racing will become successful only when the welfare of its horses become its top priority, acts on it and the public trusts that it is true. Animal welfare advocates are the enemies of the pro-slaughter AHC which took over the Unwanted Horse Coalition not to help the plight of horses going to slaughter but to try fooling people and controlling the issue.
To the rest of the speakers: real reforms are coming like it or not, hopefully lead by a central authority to run horse racing like a tight ship.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:14 pm
irradiated meat, et al: The best horse will win the Derby. A vet cannot make a horse win, he can only make a sore horse feel good enough to run, but it will come down to genetics. A horse who can get the distance and has a little pace to run at will win regardless of what any of the others have in their systems.
As for how many Derby trainers have never been sanctioned, I’d like to know that too. I do know one that has never had an infraction; Eoin Harty.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Where’s the Beef?
April 21st, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Well said irradiated meat.
EPO, CERA and other blood doping, growth hormones, blood packs and all are extremely hard and expensive to catch, yet they make cyclists win by daylight. A few leading trainers are turning claiming horses into graded stakes winners year after year. There is more to these miracles than hard work, good horsmanship and luck.
April 21st, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Just saw the Agenda for the week: http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/tab2.aspx?EventID=690616
Any chance a transcript of the week’s presentations will be made available to the public? There’s an RCI Board Meeting and Strategic Planning Session at the end of the week. I would be interested to see if the RC’s are interested in taking Waldrop’s statement that “You’re our teeth” to heart.
April 21st, 2009 at 1:22 pm
What drugs was Nicholson on when he said Europe and Asia are moving away from zero tolerance? They absolutely are NOT moving away from any such thing. Zero tolerance is definitely the rule and will stay that way.
April 21st, 2009 at 2:45 pm
What a bunch of political crap!!
April 21st, 2009 at 3:50 pm
PR: “Waldrop said the criticism of the NTRA is that the organization has no teeth. “You have teeth,” he said to the regulators. “You’re our teeth.”
Dentures would be metaphorically more accurate….
Are these the best “suits” the industry can muster? Give me strength.
April 21st, 2009 at 4:39 pm
G Rarick, once again behind the curve… Keeneland and the KYHA have been working with Hong Kong racing authorities who in turn are in contact with French authorities. Seems like the news has passed above your head.
April 21st, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Bunch of old guys getting together to eat, smoke and congratulate themselves on how much they have accomplished. Which leaves a bunch of other old guys rumbling about how a bunch of old guys sit around and do nothing. I think we need to fund year-long project to research the effectiveness of the first committee. Take a vote, find the best guys to head the committee. That should take six months. Then we can get onto the original Year project. Or not.
April 21st, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Are you guys asking for a transparent, public database of all drug infractions, and the penalties handed out to those who cheat?
Hahahahaha. That’s a good one.
April 21st, 2009 at 5:52 pm
As a HANA member I can’t help but have praise for Mike Maloney’s efforts on our behalf. But I disagree with him in regards to short field triactors. Tri’s have some of the highest takeouts on them, and in shorter fields where payoffs will be collectively smaller, the long run affect of short field triactors will wind up as bankroll killers.
April 21st, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Again Ray, thanks so much for the report. It is a great way to know what happened today from a common sense point of reporting. I can’t wait to read some other slanted report of the same talks given. I am %100 in favor of making all the rulings,sanctons, penalties etc. mandatory for internet access for ALL states. Give an owner a view of what he’s getting into, instead of just a sales pitch from a guy that is trying to get the client to get a horse no matter what. Let owners and potential new clients be able to have a source to pick from. An honest guy or maybe they want to do business with somebody that reaches deep. Their choice I guess.
April 21st, 2009 at 9:19 pm
“Having slots at the track has saved our industry.”
To the contrary, slots will be the death of the industry. Slots may be drawing money to the tracks for now, but it is not drawing fans. There is no evidence that people coming out to play slots are being converted into fans of horse racing. Race tracks keep begging states that they need slots to save racing. Sooner or later, the states will realize that the money to be made is solely through slots–they can just legalize slots as a stand-alone activity without any need to use slots to prop up a losing proposition.
Slots looks like instant money to track owners. It may be. But, running a slots parlor is a different business than horse racing. If horse racing cannot become profitable on its own it will disappear.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:34 pm
I think closing the pari-mutuel pools a minute before post time is a good idea, but I don’t know how it’s going to work.
I mean, at most tracks, when “one minute to post time” is listed on the tote board or TV monitors, it’s realistically more like five or six minutes — sometimes longer — before the horses get loaded and the race actually goes off.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:12 pm
This should be the answer to all who want some form of government control at the Federal level. The RCI is a group of government regulators. It is as good an illustration as any of what we would have under federal government. Congress would appoint guys exactly the same as the bunch in RCI. It would be headed by someone like the flatulent Lonny Powell, onetime President of RCI.
Racing has been sliding since government discovered it as an ideal source of revenue through taxation of pari-mutuel betting. That began governmental regulation and since then the objective has been to fleece the business - even if it kills it.
It should alert all to keep government, especially big government, out of our business.
April 22nd, 2009 at 3:54 am
@wesly: so which drugs have HK and France legalized because of those contacts?
Like Ms Rarick I was struck by this statement. Legalization of any raceday medication or loosening of penalties would seem the antithesis to what those jurisdictions have done successfully over the last decades, and in the case of Hong Kong to what their regulators have always held is a pillar to their unparalleled success.
April 22nd, 2009 at 7:39 am
Absolutely nothing has been legalized in France, and according to the head of the France Galop veterinary department, nothing will be. And I know where the head of the Hong Kong Jockey Club stands on medication: Absolutely not. I don’t know what talks have occurred, but I can only assume it was the Europeans and Asians teaching Kentucky how things might be improved.
May 1st, 2009 at 4:46 pm
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