Posts Tagged ‘eight belles’
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
By Ray Paulick
When Barbaro streaked to the wire 6 1/2 lengths in front to win the 2006 Kentucky Derby, there was tremendous buzz throughout the racing world over the contributions the unbeaten son of Dynaformer could make to the Thoroughbred breed as a future stallion.
Those hopes were dashed when Barbaro suffered a devastating hind leg injury shortly after the start of the Preakness Stakes, and lost a gallant battle for survival some 8 1/2 months later.
In a strange way, though, Roy and Gretchen Jackson’s homebred colt may yet have a greater impact on the breed than ever imagined. It was his injury—played out in the glaring spotlight of the mainstream news media—that provided the impetus for a two-day workshop in October 2006 to examine ways to improve safety and soundness for racehorses. One of the recommendations to come out of this Welfare and Safety Summit was the creation of a national on-track injury reporting system. A pilot program, collecting injury data from 30 racetracks, was launched the following spring and became the forerunner of the Equine Injury Database, one of the recommendations of the Jockey Club’s Thoroughbred Safety Committee, formed after another high-profile tragedy—the death of the filly Eight Belles at the 2008 Kentucky Derby.
The Equine Injury Database, funded entirely by the Jockey Club as a service to the industry, is North America’s first national injury reporting program and includes approximately 84% of all Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, mule, Appaloosa, Arabian and National Steeplechase Association races. Click here for the list of tracks that participating. Tracks not participating include Oaklawn Park, River Downs, and Los Alamitos.
Veterinarian Mary Scollay, equine medical director for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, has been an integral part of the data collection process from the beginning and serves as veterinary consultant to the Equine Injury Database. She provided an update on the work for the Paulick Report Forum brought to you by the Breeders’ Cup.
Can you provide an update on the Equine Injury Database after its formation nearly 18 months ago?
We implemented the quality control aspect of it in November 2008. What’s involved there is that the reporting veterinarians tick off a box for each live race date. That way we are able to know that we have complete reporting when no injuries may have occurred.
So Nov. 1, 2008, is the start of the quality controlled data period. We just sent 12 months of data to Dr. Tim Parkin, at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He has done quite a bit of injury epidemiology work for the Hong Kong Jockey Club and British Horseracing Authority.
Why are some tracks not participating?
No has told me why. The software development and all reporting are done at no cost to the tracks and very little time is involved—no more than a couple of minutes per incident. If they are unable to enter the reports into our password-secured database, they can fax in their reports or mail them and we’ll enter it.
What is the severity or type of injuries being collected?
The criteria for reporting to this point has been any situation where a regulatory veterinarian has to intervene—a scratch in the morning because of soundness, a post parade scratch, flipping in the starting gate, a horse who fails to finish and is injured or is injured or lame after the finish. The data base is set up to separate fatalities from non-fatalities.
Is it just for racing, or are training incidents included?
We are interested in getting training information, but at this point the participation is inconsistent. Part of that is whether there is a regulatory veterinarian present during training hours.
Have there been any adjustments in the type of data collected or the methodology?
Not really. Epidemiologists have looked at how we were collecting it and are coinfident it is usable. After they start working with it I suspect they will make some suggestions.
What are the benefits the industry may get from this?
First off, accountability. We will be able to compare apples to apples and have reliable data related to racing injuries. Everyone is using the same criteria, so a specific kind of fracture is reported the same in Washington as in Florida. And if you have turnover in regulatory veterinarians, you collect the data the same.
The next thing is that we have now established a database on a national scope and will be able to identify risk factors to injury related to exercise patterns. It can also be a tool for racing secretaries related to stall allotments. Tracks can look at scratch patterns. The more information you put in the more you can do with it. Injury prevention and understanding injuries is important. Tim (Parkin) is going to be looking initially at fatalities. Everyone wants the answer to the $64,000 question about the different surfaces. But we don’t have enough data to answer that. We don’t have the pre- versus post- data related to synthetic tracks. There is very little in the Equine Injury Database that is pre-synthetic.
Within the context of a single track, if you start seeing injuries occurring at the quarter pole, the horsemen will say there is something wrong with the track there. But if you see a trend nationally, regardless of track configurations, size or surface, if you see an injury distribution pattern that is consistent, you are not condemning the track or the surface.
The Holy Grail is to combine the work Mick Peterson is doing with the Equine Injury Database (click here for information on the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory developed by Drs. Peterson and C. Wayne McIlwraith). He monitors different track surfaces, has a hydraulic foot to measure the surface response to compression, ground penetrating radar, measures weather, temperature of surface, and drainage. All that stuff has been an art, and he’s brought science to it.
Will results, interpretation or recommendations made as a result of the data be made public at some point?
Dr. Parkin is planning to release descriptive statistics on behalf of the Jockey Club. He is going to give stats that will talk about fatalities per 1,000 starts, will likely reference dirt, turf, synthetic, the distance of races. We have to understand that those numbers, whatever they are, are not the same as a risk assessment. Let’s say there is a higher rate of fatalities on one surface as compared to another. In and of itself that does not mean there is a higher risk because of the surface, because there may be other factors.
For example, when I was in Florida, I observed that we were getting double the rate of right hind pastern fractures on turf vs. dirt. It was consistent over four to five years at both Gulfstream and Calder. The assumption is that turf racing is associated with increased risk for right hind pastern injuries. What is it about grass that makes a horse more likely to fracture his right hind pastern vs. dirt. Finally, someone from France said, “But where are all your turf courses?” (On the inside of dirt tracks.) The turn radius is too tight. It was the turn radius, not the surface.
The epidemiologist will need to find subsets of the whole population and narrow things down to single variables. You really need someone who is very proficient.
Will there be a version 2.0 of the database?
I’m at this point the proud mother. I’m not the one who is going to direct how the data is analyzed going forward. Parkin and Ashley Hill from Colorado State will do that first. We may come up with some questions that say to them, “Look at the data. Can you answer these questions or do you need something else?”
We are going to hear from people in the industry, questions they want asked, and we’ll hear from other researchers who will come forward with proposals. Ultimately it will become an academic resource. We’ve got some tracks that have been putting in data since January 2007—a lot of them have participated in good faith. We’ve got to follow up on that. We’ve provided the tracks with a good tool to use internally. Some tracks have several years worth of data, and they need to be able to use it.
Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report
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Tags: Appaloosa, Arabian, Barbaro, British Horseracing Authority, Dynaformer, eight belles, Equine Injury Database, gretchen jackson, Hong Kong Jockey, Jockey Club, kentucky derby, Mary Scollay, Mick Peterson, National Steeplechase Association, Preakness Stakes, quarter horse, Roy Jackson, thoroughbred, Tim Parkin, Welfare and Safety Summit
Posted in Paulick Report Forum | 27 Comments »
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Alex Waldrop is a good soldier who reminds me of Hiroo Onoda, the World War II legend who in 1944 was sent to Lubang island in the Philippines and told by his Japanese superiors to wage guerrilla warfare against the allied forces and to never give up. Along with a few others who survived a 1945 invasion by American soldiers, Onoda conducted operations from a base in the mountains of the island, even after leaflets were dropped saying the war had ended. Letters from loved ones begged Onoda to come home, but even after his fellow holdouts left him or died, Onoda carried out the orders given him.
It wasn’t until his one-time commanding officer flew to Lubang in 1974 that Onoda gave up the fight.
Waldrop, in his capacity as CEO of the National Thoroughbred Racing Associations, hasn’t fought as long as Hiroo Onoda did, but someone needs to tell him the war is over. The NTRA has about the same relevance and power as the Japanese Imperial Army did after the end of World War II.
It’s not Waldrop’s fault. He came into an untenable situation in December 2006 when the unraveling of the NTRA and Breeders’ Cup relationship was complete and the NTRA was left with little money and even less authority to carry out a mission to be the “league office” for horse racing. An organization that began in 1998 with high hopes and lofty goals of organizing and marketing a dysfunctional business that lacked structure, coordination and a strong central authority — the hallmarks of success for other sports — was, by 2006, a pale shadow of its former self.
What survived of the NTRA after its divorce from the Breeders’ Cup in 2006 was an understaffed press office and an industry lobbying effort in Washington, D.C., and not much more. Illusions of marketing grandeur or meaningful changes in how the sport was structured were gone like the budget the NTRA once had.
Eighteen months into Waldrop’s tenure at the NTRA, the Thoroughbred industry had a serious implosion. The filly Eight Belles died after the finish of the Kentucky Derby with millions watching on television in horror. Compounding the problem, Rick Dutrow, the trainer of Derby winner Big Brown, revealed one of our sport’s dirty little secrets, that anabolic steroids were in rampant use and, shockingly to many people, were perfectly legal. The public outcry was enormous, and the NTRA was ill-equipped to deal with it, because it lacked the authority to speak for the industry over which it had little control.
When hints of a Congressional inquiry surfaced, there was a scramble to react. The industry did what it always does: form committees and make recommendations. Foremost among those was a decision by Waldrop and the NTRA board of directors to create a new entity, the Safety and Integrity Alliance, which drafted an ambitious code of standards on a variety of safety and welfare issues for horses and jockeys. It was and is an admirable document, however meaningless it mostly likely will turn out to be.
Tracks that comply with the code of standards will be accredited by the alliance, sort of a “good horsekeeping seal of approval” that a track owner can frame and hang on his wall. And what about tracks that don’t comply? Well, they’ll have a little extra wall space. That’s the carrot and stick that Waldrop is armed with.
It goes back to something said during the Congressional inquiry held last June, when members of the House of Representatives repeatedly pointed out to Thoroughbred industry leaders how important it was for them to get their act together and establish a meaningful central authority unless they wanted the federal government to do it for them. After Alan Marzelli, the president of the Jockey Club, testified about some of the safety recommendations his organization was making to the industry, he was asked how the Jockey Club intended to have its recommendations adopted.
Marzelli’s response: “We believe in the power of persuasion.”
The power of persuasion (aka, committee recommendations) is what has kept this industry from realizing its potential as a major league sport. The harmless carrot and stick that Waldrop now carries in his briefcase is about as powerful as the army that Hiroo Onoda commanded on Lubana island for all those years after World War II.
Onoda survived, which I’m afraid is about all Waldrop and the NTRA and the rest of the racing industry can do with our current structure (or lack thereof). Maybe, just maybe, if enough tracks comply with the Safety and Integrity Alliance’s code of standards, we can stop the bleeding that’s been going on for some time, long before Eight Belles took her last breath or Rick Dutrow uttered his last insult. But stopping the bleeding is not a cure for what ails us.
What we have isn’t working. What we need are fewer organizations and fewer committees, more followers and fewer (but stronger) leaders. Why, someone pointed out to me the other day, do we need separate organizations like the NTRA, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, the Jockey Club, the Breeders’ Cup, the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and so many others? He answered his own question: because none of those groups is willing to cede authority and lose whatever little fiefdom they control.
Waldrop keeps fighting, seemingly against all odds. When racing’s obvious problems were brought up twice recently in the New York Times, first by sports columnist William Rhoden and then by turf writer Joe Drape, Waldrop fired back in a blog at the NTRA’s web site, defending the Safety and Integrity Alliance and pointing out progress that had been made since the death of Eight Belles. He even tried to incite an angry mob to join his army and attack the messengers at the New York Times for the audacity of their observations.
It was rather pitiful. I’m not sure that Waldrop, like Hiroo Onoda, is much more than an army of one.
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
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Tags: Alan Marzelli, alex waldrop, anabolic steroids, Breeders' Cup, congressional inquiry of horse racing, eight belles, hiroo onoda, Horse Racing, Jockey Club, Joe Drape, national horsemen's benevolent and protective associati, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, new york times, NTRA, ntra safety and integrity alliance, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, rick dutrow, safety and integrity alliance, thoroughbred horsemen's association, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, william c. rhoden
Posted in Breeders' Cup, Congressional Hearing, Horse Racing, Horse Welfare, Industry Organizations, Industry Reform, Jockey Club, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Regulatory Issues, Task Forces, racing injuries | 24 Comments »
Monday, March 2nd, 2009
By Ray Paulick
It may not be searchable, completely accurate or as comprehensive as it could be, but the Association of Racing Commissioners International has put together a web site that includes publication of recent rulings from various racing commissions and stewards throughout North America. It’s the kind of thing the Daily Racing Form did years ago in print when it enjoyed a monopoly on past performance information and was the de facto publication of record for the pari-mutuel industry (not to mention one of the most profitable newspapers in the country).
In those days, you could find out who was fined for having a loose dog, smoking in the shedrow, or parking illegally in the stable area. You could also read what jockeys have been suspended or fined for rules violations, what trainers got positive tests for prohibited drugs or overages for permitted medications, and what owners hadn’t paid their bills.
But as profits and news space shrunk, the Form cut out many of its “service to the industry” features, and one of the things to hit the editor’s cutting-room floor was stewards and racing commission rulings. It became increasingly difficult to keep up with why certain jockeys weren’t riding, why some red-hot trainers suddenly went ice-cold, or why a horse was now being trained by someone we hadn’t heard of (usually an assistant to a suspended trainer).
Some tracks post their stewards and commission rulings in public areas or in the racing office; big name suspensions or fines might get picked up in the trade press or local newspapers. But, by and large, it’s been a hit or miss proposition to try and keep up with who has run afoul of racing officials.
Enter the RCI, an organization formed in 1934 under the name National Association of State Racing Commissioners whose name was changed to Association of Racing Commissioners International in 1988. Whether under the NASRC or RCI banner, this has traditionally been viewed as one of the most useless organizations the industry has ever had, mostly because it lacks authority to get anything done. The RCI is an association that can make all kinds of recommendations to its members, but lacks the authority to enforce anything. Some years ago, the RCI threatened to sanction members that didn’t adopt its guidelines on such issues as medication regulations, but those efforts were laughed off. To make matters worse, then RCI president Tony Chamblin was under fire from many commissioners, and a number of states quit RCI and in 1997 formed a splinter group, the North American Pari-Mutuel Regulators Association.
Thus, until the two groups merged back together in 2006, racing had the ultimate absurdity: two competing national associations of regulators, both of them relatively toothless and useless. It’s no wonder we are in such dire straits today regarding the lack of national rules and regulations for the sport.
Fortunately, RCI and NAPRA did merge, and for the past few years RCI president and CEO Ed Martin has been putting the pieces back together. The RCI remains toothless, and some would suggest they are still useless. However, there are things that RCI can do in the way of communications to the public and education to its members, and it’s good to see the organization is focusing on those areas.
One thing RCI can’t control is the quality of its membership. For the most part, racing commissioners continue to be political appointees of governors who in many cases are returning favors for campaign contributions or other types of assistance. Many of those appointees are absolutely clueless when it comes to racing, but RCI can help educate them.
From the standpoint of communicating to the public, there is no greater role for RCI to play than to be a clearinghouse of current and past information from all of its members. That means all rulings from stewards and racing commissions against licensees should be easily accessed at the RCI website, and in a perfect world those rulings would be completely searchable. That’s not the case yet, because RCI is yet another one of those cash-strapped racing organizations that has a bigger mission budget.”
However, what the RCI has (click here to view recent rulings) is a pretty good start. Looking at the rulings posted today, for example, I learned that jockey Gabriel Saez (who was under fire from animal rights groups last year after the death of Eight Belles) was fined $500 for striking his mount with the whip after dismounting from a Feb. 8 race at Fair Grounds. I also learned that a Kentucky licensee named David L. Kirk has been suspended six months for “possession of injectable medications and hypodermic needles” on association grounds.
There are clearly some errors and omissions on the RCI rulings page. One ruling involving Monticello harness track in New York is listed as under the jurisdiction of the California Horse Racing Board. There are numerous rulings missing from California, and none from Arizona, among other states.
But it’s a start.
Why is it important for this information to be public? From the perspective of racing fans, their money supports this game and they deserve to know who among the state licensees has been sanctioned for any and all rules violations. Owners who make a significant investment in the game also have a right to know who is following the rules and who isn’t. Access to this information should be seamless and completely transparent for all jurisdictions.
Some state regulatory bodies, including the California Horse Racing Board, New York State Racing and Wagering Board, and Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, among others, have focused on making their own websites searchable for rulings and infractions. But their time and money might be better spent helping the RCI build a comprehensive, user friendly and completely searchable web site so that racing could have a dependable clearinghouse of information. It’s something the industry deserves, and the RCI is the best-positioned group to deliver it.
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Tags: association of racing commissioners international, California Horse Racing Board, daily racing form, david l. kirk, ed martin, eight belles, gabriel saez, horse racing officials, horse racing stewards, kentucky horse racing commission, national association of state racing commissioners, new york state racing and wagering board, north american pari-mutuel regulators association, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, RCI, stewards rulings, tony chamblin
Posted in Industry Organizations, Regulatory Issues | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Whenever I think about horse racing’s crazy-quilt regulatory system that has ruling bodies in 38 different states, I recall the time an official at some racetrack asked Hall of Famer Bill Mott to show his trainer’s license before entering a restricted area. Mott reached into his Wrangler’s and pulled out what appeared to be a full deck of laminated playing cards, held together by a rubber band wrapped around the outside.
“It’s in here somewhere,” Mott said, fumbling through individual licenses for Florida, New York, Kentucky, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Texas, Illinois, Delaware, Virginia, Louisiana, and maybe even his home state of South Dakota, among others.
Uniform licensing is a concept the industry has been working on for, oh, 50 years or so. They still haven’t got it figured out. In this regard, owners, trainers and other licensees are subjected to some of the most ridiculous regulatory inefficiencies any industry has ever seen. Why?
I thought about this absurdity as I read the racing industry’s latest “white paper,” this one authored by a well-intentioned group of equine veterinarians at the American Association of Equine Practitioners that suggests we all follow their recommendations, pull together, and work in concert for the overall good of the industry.
The average meaningful life of a Thoroughbred industry white paper is about 10 to 14 days – or at least it used to be. That’s about how long it took for the weekly trade magazines to dutifully detail the highlights, and then mail the magazine to their subscribers. The typical reader reaction was a collective yawn. They know how the industry works … or doesn’t. The lifespan of an industry white paper might be shorter today, given the access to the information on various Web sites.
For those who haven’t seen the AAEP treatise, it’s called “Putting the Horse First: Veterinary Recommendations for the Safety and Welfare of the Thoroughbred Racehorse.” Click here to read the entire nine-page report.
For those who want the abbreviated version, here it is: 1) the AAEP believes it is “imperative that the industry urgently demonstrate an ability to affect sweeping change without government intervention”; 2) we need to hold hands and sit around a campfire singing songs until we can reach agreement on issues related to the welfare of the horse 3) horses should not be permitted to race without at least 10 days between starts; 4) some racing secretaries are evil and racetrack management is increasingly clueless about horses; 5) more study is needed in the areas of racing, training and selling 2-year-olds; 6) adopt new whip rules; 7) keep holding hands and singing campfire songs; 8) it’s no longer acceptable for owners to heartlessly discard ex-racehorses, and it’s imperative that all jurisdictions establish and support rehabilitation, retraining and adoption agencies 9) claiming races need reform, with purses no more than 50% higher than the claiming price, drug testing of all claimed horses, and claims for horses that fail to finish a race being voided; 10) develop and adopt uniform rules, penalties, drug testing protocols, violation reporting procedures (stop me if you’ve heard this one before); and 11) keep singing and holding hands, and will someone please throw some more logs on the fire?
This industry is amazing, if for no other reason than for its ability to clear its throat and harrumph when the situation is dire. Since Eight Belles died on the track at Churchill Downs and we celebrated the highs and lows of Big Brown, an anabolic steroid-pumped Kentucky Derby winner (surely not the only one), we have had more task forces, committees, blue-ribbon panels, and alliances than we’ve mustered up before in this short a time. We’ve had the Jockey Club, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, and now the American Association of Equine Practitioners sounding off (and I know I’m forgetting some of the other alphabet soup orgs).
And still, Bill Mott has a pocketful of racing licenses. If we can’t do the simple things, what makes the AAEP or any other group think we are going to convince 38 state racing commissions that a $12,500 purse is too high for $8,000 claimers, or that a horse needs 10 days off before racing again?
Let’s look at the first premise of the AAEP’s white paper, that we need to “urgently demonstrate an ability” to make change without government intervention. Haven’t we had enough chances to demonstrate our ability to do so? (I enter Bill Mott’s expired trainer’s licenses into evidence.)
Why and how has the AAEP, a group of veterinarians, taken it upon themselves to state that we must do this without government assistance? I suppose if they were involved in the cattle or poultry or peanut business, they’d suggest we would be better off producing meat and other foodstuffs without interference from the United States Department of Agriculture.
The point is, we need government to help us overcome the dysfunctional regulatory structure that has led us to this mess we are in. We just need to be able to be part of the process, and not be in the adversarial role many in this industry are setting us up to be in. If we repeat the mantra that “government is enemy, government is enemy,” how do you think government is going to respond?
So with all due respect to the AAEP and its veterinarians, please stick to what you know best. In fact, this white paper completely ignores what vets know best, which is the care of horses. Nowhere in the white paper are there recommendations on such procedures as pin firing of shins of young horses, or permitting horses to race just days after receiving joint injections. To be fair, AAEP executive director David Foley said further recommendations will be forthcoming, but should those recommendations have come first, so that their own house is in order?
Tell us what you think about the chances the AAEP’s white paper recommendations will ever be implemented. Read the full report. Take our poll on the left-hand column of the Paulick Report home page, and leave your comments in the space provided below.
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Tags: aaep, AAEP white paper, american association of equine practitioners, anabolic steroids, Big Brown, bill mott, claiming races, david foley, drug testing, drugs in horse racing, eight belles, Horse Racing, Jockey Club, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, NTRA, Paulick Report, putting the horse first: veterinary recommendations for the safety and welfare of the thoroughbred racehorse, racing regulations, racing secretaries, Ray Paulick, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, TOBA, uniform licensing, uniform rules
Posted in Horse Health, Horse Welfare, Industry Organizations, Industry Reform, Medication, Regulatory Issues | 54 Comments »
Monday, January 26th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
There are many questions to be answered at tonight’s Eclipse Awards from Miami Beach, Fla. (from which I’ll be dutifully live blogging starting sometime after the 5:30 p.m. cocktail hour begins and before TVG goes on the air with its 7 p.m. coverage). Who will get the crown as 2008 Horse of the Year? Will it be the reigning champion, Curlin, or the unbeaten filly, Zenyatta?
 Inquiring minds may want to know…will Michael Iavarone of IEAH Stable have more bodyguards than Jess Jackson? How big will Frank Stronach’s posse be? Who will take the first punch at the publisher of the Paulick Report? Iavarone (I’m no fan of his), trainer Steve Asmussen (I wrote that no trainer with a pending drug positive deserves an Eclipse Award) or my former boss, Bloodhorse publisher Stacy Bearse (who needs no further introduction to our faithful readers)? We’ll try to answer those questions and more, going behind the scenes as best we can.
Many of the Eclipse Award winners are obvious (both of the 2-year-old divisions, 3-year-old male, older male and female, jockey and trainer), but there actually is suspense in several categories (3-year-old filly, male and female turf, male and female sprinter, owner and breeder). Unless, of course, someone at the sponsoring organizations – the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form or National Turf Writers Association – has leaked the results, something that has happened in the past.
Without access to the leaks, here are my predictions for the night (on the Eclipse Awards front):
2-year-old male – Midshipman (a slam dunk)
2-year-old filly – Stardom Bound (should be a unanimous vote)
3-year-old male – Big Brown (there might be a few stragglers that voted against him)
3-year-old filly – Proud Spell over Eight Belles (performance should win out over sentiment)
older male – Curlin (slam dunk)
older female – Zenyatta (should be unanimous, though I am reminded that some sports writers didn’t vote for Rickey Henderson to get in the Baseball Hall of Fame)
male sprinter – Midnight Lute (if it’s like boxing, the defending champion should have an advantage, and we’re like boxing, right?). This may have been Bob Baffert’s best training achievement in his career (and he could have three Eclipse winners this year without being a finalist for outstanding trainer!)
female sprinter – Indian Blessing over Ventura (the anti-synthetic track votes may come into play here, diminishing Ventura’s win over Indian Blessing in the Breeders’ Cup)
outstanding owner – Unimaginative voters will probably give this to Stronach Stable, based on the highest earnings (though the 2008 leading owner by money won was Zayat Stable, who was not a finalist). Of the three finalists (Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing is the third), IEAH deserves the award if it is strictly based on racetrack performance
outstanding breeder – tough one to call. Adena Springs has the numbers, but the other finalists, Stonerside and WinStar, had very good results from smaller foal crops. With Robert and Janice McNair producing two Breeders’ Cup winners (Midshipman and Raven’s Pass) for Stonerside, they get the nod
trainer – Steve Asmussen, an outstanding horseman and the certain landslide winner (though as I stated in an earlier column, I believe medication positives during the year in question should disqualify individuals or horses from awards consideration)
jockey – Garrett Gomez. Another landslide
apprentice Jockey and steeplechase horse – no clue
Horse of the Year – Curlin, by a comfortable margin…a deserving two-time champion
Tune in to the Paulick Report later tonight to see how wrong I can be!
UPDATE: Due to multiple braincell failure, two hotly contested categories were omitted from the original post.
male turf — Einstein over Conduit. A season of top performances in North America should rate higher than a single Breeders’ Cup win.
female turf — Forever Together (for the same reason as Einstein, even though Goldikova’s BC Mile triumph was nothing short of breathtaking.
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Tags: Big Brown, Bob Baffert, Curlin, daily racing form, eclipse awards, eight belles, Frank Stronach, garrett gomez, godolphin racing, IEAH, indian blessing, Michael Iavarone, midnight lute, midshipman, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, national turf writers association, NTRA, ntwa, Paulick Report, proud spell, raven's pass, Ray Paulick, rickey henderson, Robert McNair, stacy bearse, stardom bound, steve asmussen, stonerside, stronach stable, Synthetic surfaces, tvg, winstar, zayat stables, zenyatta
Posted in Big Brown, Curlin, eclipse awards | 10 Comments »
Friday, November 21st, 2008
By Ray Paulick
Bob Evans, president and chief executive officer of Churchill Downs Inc., said during a Friday morning press conference at the company’s flagship track in Louisville, Ky., that the CDI board of directors discussed the possibility of reducing the field size of the Kentucky Derby during a regularly scheduled meeting in New Orleans last week.
The Derby’s maximum field size of 20 is under scrutiny in the wake of the death of the filly Eight Belles in last year’s Derby, even though her fatal injuries occurred after the finish and apparently were unrelated to the number of runners or trouble she may have encountered in the race. The Derby traditionally has the largest field of any race in the United States. No Derby starter has fallen during the running of the race since 1970, when Holy Land clipped heels and fell going into the far turn.
By contrast, Breeders’ Cup fields are limited to 14 starters.
Maximum field size of 14 horses and the prohibition of fillies running against males were considerations in an original discussion document circulated by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association to industry leaders who formed what ultimately came to be known as the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance.
Field size or sex limitations were not part of the final recommendations of the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance Pledge, which can be viewed by clicking here.
Evans said CDI has devoted a great deal of time and resources to examine a wide range of safety issues since the death of Eight Belles and has adopted all of the safety recommendations made by committees formed earlier this year by the Jockey Club and Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.
The CDI board discussed the reduction of the field size, Evans said, though he gave no indication whether a change will be made. “For now, it’s the way it’s always been,” he said. Nominations to the Triple Crown races, including the Derby, state that the size of the Derby can be “up to 20 horses.”
A reduction in field size might not be greeted favorably by horse owners and trainers who throughout the winter and spring closely follow whether their 3-year-olds are in the leading 20 contenders, based on money earned in graded or group stakes races. Churchill recently announced a marketing agreement with Kempton racecourse in England that will guarantee one spot in the Derby field to the winner of the Kentucky Derby Challenge Stakes, a 1 1/8-mile race on Polytrack, on March 18.
Handle on the Derby would also decline in the event of a reduction in the field size. Evans said Churchill has researched Derby handle in relationship to field size but would not say how much handle might fall. A reduction from 20 to 14 starters would also cost Churchill Downs $300,000 in lost entry and starting fees ($25,000 to enter and $25,000 to start).
Evans discussed the Derby field size and other safety measures following a media briefing announcing that Oaks and Derby ticket prices, with a few exceptions, would be frozen in 2009. “Our slowing economy is having a pronounced effect, and many of our customers have been affected in various ways as well,” Evans said. “Although the Kentucky Derby occupies an elite spot in the world of sports and tickets are typically in high demand, we want to keep our price points at the same level to help our customers in this challenging economic climate.” Click here to read more about the ticket price freeze.
The only exceptions will be scheduled price increases in the 30-year personal seat license program, which are coming off a three-year price freeze; some luxury suites and Marquee Village accommodations; and reserved seats in the infield.
Churchill Downs is also offering the opportunity for on-track customers to buy Derby reserved seats in a sweepstakes running each day from tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 22) through Nov. 29. Individuals whose names are drawn will be eligible to buy two Derby tickets ranging in price from $88 to $207. (Derby tickets range in price from $88 for infield reserved seats to $693 on millionaire’s row.) One thousand of the tracks 55,000 seats are being offered in the sweepstakes. For more details, click here.
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Tags: bob evans, Breeders' Cup, CDI, cdi board of directors, churchill downs, Churchill Downs Inc., derby field size, eight belles, Horse Racing, horse racing safety, Horse Welfare, Jockey Club, kempton, kentucky derby, kentucky derby 135, kentucky derby tickets, kentucky oaks, NTRA, ntra safety and integrity alliance, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, TOBA, Triple Crown
Posted in Churchill Downs Inc., Horse Racing, Horse Welfare, Jockey Club, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, TOBA, kentucky derby | 12 Comments »
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
By Ray Paulick
One of the Thoroughbred industry’s biggest challenges may also present one of its greatest opportunities. The challenge, brought to the fore this year by a series of widely publicized events but always lingering just off center stage, is the issue of animal welfare. How the industry deals with this subject may be one of its last, best opportunities to derail our slow but steady march toward irrelevance in the eyes of the general public.
The death of Eight Belles in this year’s Kentucky Derby, from all indications, was a freak accident, one of those incidents that could not have been prevented by anyone. But her demise, along with revelations about the routine administration of anabolic steroids to many of the sport’s best performers, shined a spotlight on racing that revealed to the general public some of its darkest truths.
Foremost among those is the question of what becomes of a Thoroughbred when it is no longer useful as a racing or breeding animal. Some owners and breeders take great measures to insure either a productive second life for their horses or dispose of them through humane euthanasia. Too many horses slip through the cracks, however, and end up on meat wagons headed to slaughter houses in Canada or Mexico, or are simply abandoned.
The perception of our sport is shaped by media reports of the cruelty of slaughter or abandonment of Thoroughbreds, and it does not present an image attractive to many Americans, especially a younger generation that is more in tune with animal welfare issues.
That is the challenge.
The opportunity lies in the numerous programs and untold number of volunteers who work to find second homes for Thoroughbreds as riding, pleasure or performance horses, or as therapeutic animals used in programs for the mentally, spiritually or physically challenged, and in prisons where they have helped rehabilitate hardened criminals.
It’s time for the racing and breeding industry to fully embrace programs like the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, CANTER, Rerun, Tranquility Farm, Thoroughbred Charities of America and others, instead of pretending the issue of unwanted ex-racehorses does not exist.
Last week I heard a presentation on how our sport can energize its “brand” from marketing expert David Aaker at the Asian Racing Conference in Tokyo, Japan. Aaker, an advisor to Japanese advertising giant Dentsu and professor emeritus at the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley, talked about how some other businesses have energized their brands by hitching their wagons to something outside of their core business that it is interesting, relevant and compelling to their customer base.
Avon, one of the oldest cosmetic brands for women, was cited as one very good example. There was little the company could do to energize itself by making better lipstick, Aaker said, so it found an issue with great relevance and interest to its female customers: breast cancer. Avon put enormous resources into a breast cancer awareness campaign, created a foundation to support breast cancer research, and promoted an annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer throughout the world. Breast cancer research and other social issues relevant to women were foremost among Avon CEO Andrea Jung’s program to rebuild and re-energize the Avon cosmetic brand. It has been a great success.
What social issue is of great importance to current and potential racing fans? I think that’s a no-brainer: it’s the humane treatment of the animals that give us so much pleasure and entertainment.
Look into the eyes of any fan when a horse dumps its rider in the post parade and takes off on a perilous solo run, or when a horse breaks down in a race or is carted off on an ambulance. It’s not just the champions our fans care about, either, it’s those low-level claimers they’ve followed in the first or last race on any day at any track.
Racing is fortunate to have people who are animal lovers and do what they can to protect them. Just today, Madeleine Paulson Pickens is reported to have come up with a plan to rescue from death the tens of thousands of wild mustangs who have roamed the American West and are so much a part of our culture. The late Paul Mellon bequeathed a most generous gift to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation that will benefit former racehorses for years to come. John Hettinger dedicated the last years of his life to ending slaughter and protecting our horses.
But it’s time for racing, as an institution, to understand that what’s good for our horses is good for our sport, to face this challenge and embrace it as an opportunity. The Jockey Club realized this with its recent announcement that it will give to horse retirement causes and offer breeders an easy way to donate funds to this cause whenever they register a foal. Suffolk Downs officials established a zero-tolerance policy against trainers sending horses to slaughter and a few other tracks have followed their lead.
But the clock is ticking. Voters in Massachusetts banned dog racing in that state Nov. 4 because of concerns over animal welfare. It’s not a stretch of the imagination to see similar measures taken against the racing of horses. Think about that for a minute.
We have some very bright people in this industry, people who can understand what marketing expert Aaker was talking about with Avon and apply the same principle to help both the horses and the business of Thoroughbred racing. We can energize the Thoroughbred racing "brand" by taking on one of our biggest challenges and viewing it as an opportunity to sell our sport to a new generation.
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Tags: 32nd asian racing conference, andre jung, animal welfare, anti-slaughter, asian racing conference, avon, avon walk for breast cancer, ban on dog racing, CANTER, ceo andrea jung, david aaker, dentsu, dog racing ban, eight belles, haas school of business, Horse Racing, horse slaughter, john hettinger, kentucky derby, Madeleine Paulson Pickens, madeleine pickens, massachsusetts dog racing ban, mellon foundation, paul mellon, Paulick Report, pickens plan, Ray Paulick, rerun, thoroughbred charities of america, thoroughbred racing and breeding, thoroughbred retirement, thoroughbred retirement foundation, tranquility farm, trf
Posted in Horse Slaughter, Horse Welfare, Industry Reform | 17 Comments »
Friday, October 24th, 2008
Ray Paulick will be live blogging Friday afternoon’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships card from Santa Anita beginning around 3:15 p.m. Eastern. To get the latest news on the "Filly Friday" program, including bettings odds and results, along with Ray’s observations and analysis of the ESPN2 telecast (and a scorecard on his own selections), check back frequently throughout the day.
3:15 p.m. … The first "wise guys" horse of the day is Ventura, the Robert Frankel-trained filly who was 5-1 on the morning line but has been bet down to 2-1 in the Filly and Mare Sprint on the synthetic Pro-Ride track. She is the co-favorite with the morning line choice Indian Blessing. Zaftig is another early bet-down, currently at 9-2 from her 8-1 morning line for trainer Jimmy Jerkens. Ventura comes off a strong runner-up effort in the Woodbine Mile on turf. The daughter of Chester House has three synthetic track races, with two wins, one in England and one at Keeneland this spring in an allowance race that served as her U.S. debut.
3:20 p.m. … While we wait for the action to begin, there’s some good news about one of tomorrow’s contenders in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. WinStar Farm’s Colonel John, the winner of the Santa Anita Derby and Travers Stakes, will race as a 4-year-old next year, according to WinStar’s co-owners Bill and Susan Casner. That news came from the notes team collecting information daily on each Breeders’ Cup starter. Click here to read about Colonel John and all the other Classic entrants in Friday morning’s notes. Click here to read today’s "flash notes," a quick daily activity report on every horse entered in the Cup.
3:26 p.m. … Post parade for the Filly and Mare Sprint has begun. ESPN2 telecast doesn’t begin for a few more minutes, so there won’t be much time to set up what the Breeders’ Cup World Championships is all about. "We’re on the air, and let’s go to Trevor Denman for the call of the first race."
3:30 p.m. … ESPN2 is on the air, trying to set things up as best they can. in the few minutes before the first Breeders’ Cup race. There’s a quick money comparison between the Breeders’ Cup purses and other championship events, from the Daytona 500 to Wimbledon. And there are people at Santa Anita! There is a buzz in the crowd. Oh, happy day.
3:35 p.m. … The very capable Joe Tessitore is hosting the telecast, with assistance from Randy Moss and Jerry Bailey. Reporters include Jeannine Edwards, Jay Privman and Caton Bredar. No sign of Hank Goldberg and his piggy bank yet.
3:38 p.m. … What kind of camera angle is that? Where are they….what a great time to use obscure camera angles, at the most important races of the year. "Why is this so hard to follow?" someone said as we tried to figure these bizarre camera angles.
3:40 p.m. … The wise guys were right. Ventura romped, beating Indian Blessing by daylight, with Zaftig third. My pick in the race, Dearest Trickski, set the face pace and then folded like the $10,000 claimer she used to be. Trainer Bobby Frankel’s got that cheshire cat grin working in the post-race interview. Owner and breeder Khalid Abdullah makes a rare appearance in the winner’s circle with one of his horses, even though he’s been one of the most successful owners of Breeders’ Cup horses. He rarely travels to the U.S. for the races. Ventura pays $7.60 to win and the $1 exacta with Indian Blessing pays $12.70. $1 trifecta is $48.70 and the $1 superfecta with Miraculous Miss pays $733.30. Final time is a scorching 1:19.90. Chart.
3:45 p.m. … Tessitore hands it over to someone with an English accent and a made-up name of Nick Luck. I assume that’s just his racetrack name. Nick is the foreign horse expert. Where’s John McCririck? Oops…first bad technical flub. Tessitore is talking about something and some loud music crashes over him.
3:50 p.m. … Privman grabs Dodgers manager Joe Torre for a quick post-race interview. Turns out he and Bobby Frankel are best buddies.
3:53 p.m. … Hank and his bank make their first appearance. "I’m a little bit educated," Hank insists. Kenny Mayne says Hank would bet on giraffes if he had to, introducing a cute feature about Hank, playing himself and a mutuel clerk. This is a nightmare,…two Hank Goldbergs on one telecast?
4:00 p.m. … The wise guys are out again, this time slamming the odds on the horse I picked in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, Consequence. She was 8-1 on the morning and is now 5-2. Former Sports Illustrated senior writer Bill Nack is introduced as the essayist on the weekend telecasts. Good move by ESPN2. Not since the days of the great Jack Whitaker on ABC have racing telecasts enjoyed someone who could comment with intelligence and eloquence. Nack wrote and did voiceovers on the 25 greatest Breeders’ Cup moments that will be sprinkled throughout the telecasts today and tomorrow.
4:08 p.m. … Props on the anchor desk. Tessitore, Moss and Bailey show off a sample of turf from the Santa Anita grass course and the Rose Bowl football field. The point was lost on me. Next up is a Bailey interview with South African horse breeder and golfing great Gary Player (who plugs Sentient jets, a race sponsor). Gary then tees up a golf ball on the grass course and aims it at one of the windows in Frank Stronach’s office. Fore!
4:15 p.m. … Overhead shot of Santa Anita shows dozens of people in the track infield. The infield parking lot looks to be about one-third full. They’re loading into the gate for the Juvenile Fillies Turf. Another horrible directing job….way too many camera cuts to figure where they are on the track. Laragh tried to take this field all the way, but got nipped at the wire by Maram and Heart Shaped. Saucey Evening was fourth.
4:20 p.m. … Maram is trained by Chad Brown, a former Bobby Frankel assistant who went out on his own this year. Johnny Murtagh rode a terrific race, breaking from the outside and getting the Storm Cat filly Heart Shaped into a ground-saving position. Prado took Laragh through some quick fractions, and she was game to the end. Brown’s grandfather died earlier this week and was buried in New York today. Brown said his grandfather would have wanted him to be at the Breeders’ Cup. Talk about the highs and lows of racing. Jose Lezcano rode the winner, who is unbeaten in three starts, including a narrow victory in the Miss Grillo Oct. 1. She’s a daughter of Sahm (beter than a "son of Sahm"). The photo finish shows Maram getting up to beat Heart Shaped by a matter of inches. The winner paid $24.20. $1 exotics were: $175.10 for the exacta; $898.90 trifecta; $5,796.30 superfecta. Our pick, Consequence, finished seventh and was never a threat. Time of the race was 1:35.10. Chart.
4:30 p.m. … C.S. Silk is taking a lot of money in the Juvenile Fillies, bet down to 9-2 from her 15-1 morning line. Stardom Bound is a solid favorite at 8-5.
4:35 p.m. … The obligatory feature on synthetic surfaces shows, guess what? There is no consensus on whether it’s good or bad. Caton Bredar on horse back says the Pro-Ride surface temperature is 145 degrees. Don’t go runnin’ barefoot on that, Caton!
4:43 p.m. … Now seriously, whoever is directing this telecast should try to remember one thing: people who watch horse races are interested in finding the horse they like and following its progress. Constant camera cuts and jumps make it almost impossible.
4:45 p.m. …. Returning from a commercial break, we hear Randy Moss saying he wants to see if someone is perspiring. He can only be talking about the all-time sweat king, Hank "The Bank" Goldberg. Post parade for the Juvenile Fillies. Sentimental pick is Stardom Bound, the favorite, who will be sold by 84-year-old owner Charles Cono in Kentucky after the Breeders’ Cup. Chris Paasch, her trainer, has hinted at retirement because of health problems. He’s a good guy and good for the game. Same reaction I had when hearing that Larry Jones was thinking of hanging it up because of the pressure that followed the death of Eight Belles. I’ll bet Larry just cuts back on the number of horses he trains and will continue. The way things are going it might be my only winning bet of the day.
4:58 p.m. … Stardom Bound will have to win from last place.Betdown C.S. Silk took the lead, followed by Be Smart. A half-mile in :45.92. Stardom Bound makes a six wide swoop around the turn and takes the lead. What a breathtaking performance! Dream Empress finishes second, with Sky Diva third and Dave’s Revenge fourth. Stardorm Bound was ridden with tremendous confidence by Mike Smith. This is what a championship performance looks like.
Quick story about this filly. Mother-in-law Helen touted me on Stardom Bound at Del Mar when she lost her debut July 20. I got to the track shortly after that race was run, and she said "Stardom Bound is a good one. She was unlucky to lose." Helen was right. Hope she stuck to her guns and made a winning bet today. The winner paid $5.20, and the exotics were: $24.50 for the exacta; $77.90 for the tri, and $2,538.90 for the superfecta. Time of the race was 1:40.99. Chart.
5:10 p.m. … Stuart Janney, presenting the trophy for the Juvenile Fillies, doesn’t seem to think Charles Cona has the strength to hang onto the miniature Ecorche horse that is emblematic of the Breeders’ Cup. "This is very heavy," Janney says, "and I’ll give it to whoever would like to hold it." Cona grabs it out of his hands. Cona is asked about whether or not he is going to go through with the sale. "We’re thinking," Cona says to much laughter.
5:14 p.m. … Here comes a Filly Friday feature on life at the track, focusing on female trainers Carla Gaines and Helen Pitts. Wayne Lukas, who’s been married to several females, says he never wanted to hire a woman because he’s afraid someone would fall in love with them. Nice. Gaines was asked what she sacrificed for the racetrack lifestyle. "Children….marriage," she says. Good feature. Uh-oh. Let’s put a little sour taste in it by bringing in Rick Dutrow for words of wisdom. He essentially says, "I have no interest in learning anything from a woman trainer." That’s why we luv ya, Rick. Dirt bag.
5:22 p.m. … They brought some celebrity with too many lip injections to scare the horses in the paddock. Lisa Rinna? I’m told she’s famous for being famous and that’s about it. "Rider’s up…Woo-hoo."
5:26 p.m. … What racing telecast would be complete without a Jeannine Edwards-Mike Iavarone interview? Why did you retire Big Brown and take all that money for breeding him instead, she asks him. Blah-blah-blah, he says. "His life is incomplete and my life is incomplete," Iavarone says. So was mine, Mike, until this interview. Question: Why do you have a bodyguard at the track all the time? Do that many people dislike you? There are billionaires that drive to the track in their own car, walk through the gates on their own, and wander around without a bodyguard. I know you have a nice tan and all, but that doesn’t make you a a celebrity — with or without a bodyguard.
5:32 p.m. … I’m wondering if Hank Goldberg had his sweat glands removed. Or did ESPN2 borrow Sarah Palin’s makeup artist for the telecast? Speaking of sweating, Forever Together drinks a lot of Guinness beer, according to Randy Moss, to make her sweat more. She stopped sweating in Florida, apparently. Hank, were you listening?
Frankie Dettori guns Folk Opera to the lead in the Filly & Mare Turf, gettting the first quarter in a slow :25.46 and half in :50.02. Halfway to Heaven sits in the perfect spot in second and Wait a While third. Slow three quarters in 1:14.78. Out of nowhere comes Forever Together, who sweeps by them all to win, with Sealy Hill second, Wait a While third and Visit fourth. Julian Leparoux gets it done. Forever Together, racing for George Strawbridge and trainer Jonathan Sheppard, comes off a win at Keeneland in the First Lady on Oct. 3 Good thing they don’t do a breathalyzer test for these horses. Forever Together might be DQed because of the Guinness.
Meanwhile, there is a run on Guinness at the nearby liquor store by other trainers.
5:46 p.m. … Bailey accuses the French jockey of being bi-coastal. Good thing Julian isn’t listening. Trainer Sheppard (one of the great jump trainers ever) gets his first Breeders’ Cup win after seconds with Storm Cat and With Anticipation. He hit the lottery with Storm Cat, however, getting a lifetime breeding right in the horse from owner W.T. Young and enjoying a long, profitable run. Strawbridge says he and Sheppard have been friends who have been "forever together." I notice Sheppard is sweating a bit from the heat…or was it the Guiness?
On a serious note, Strawbridge is the second cancer survivor to win on Friday, following trainer Chris Paasch. Part of the decision to have Filly Friday was to raise awareness and research funds for breast cancer in women. Cancer is a disease that doesn’t discriminate.
5:54 p.m. … Payoffs in the Filly & Mare Turf, run in 2:01.58 for the 1 1/4 miles. Forever Together, a 4-year-old by Belong to Me, paid $11.80 to win. Exotics: $224.50 for the exacta; $996.10 trifecta; $13,505.10 superfecta. Hank Goldberg had the winner. I didn’t. My pick, Halfway to Heaven, was in perfect position but had nothing left for the stretch run, finishing eighth. Chart
6:02 p.m. … Crowded paddock for the Ladies’ Classic. Everyone wants a close-up look at Zenyatta, and for good reason. She is spectacular looking. Aaron Gryder’s jockey introductions have been an OK addition to the show. Just got some insight from someone close to the Darley/Godolphin camp. Cocoa Beach is jumpin’ out of her skin, but the filly I picked to upset Zenyatta, Music Note, isn’t on her game. Let’s see how good the inside information is. It may not matter. If Zenyatta runs her race, the only contest is for second.
6:08 p.m. … Great feature on Zenyatta…little about the filly, a little about the music business that owner Jerry Moss has been such a big part of. Sting, the Police. But how come no one has asked Jerry why he failed to sign the legendary Captain Beefheart to a contract? Just realized that the Downbeat winning exacta would be Zenyatta-Music Note.
6:16 p.m. … Bear Now sprints to the lead in the Ladies’ Classic, with Zenyatta dropping back to last. Opening quarter in :23.71. Malfunction on the timer for the half mile (it said :58.08). Zanyatta on the move as the field makes the final turn. She’s good, sweeping by the on the far outside, but this was no gimmie. Cocoa Beach got an inside trip and ran hard, making the daughter of Street Cry work for the victory. Music Note gets third, with Carriage Trail fourth and Hystericalady fifth. Big day for Sheikh Mohammed, who stands Street Cry and owns the second and third place finishers.
Zenyatta’s jockey Mike Smith tells Jerry Bailey while on horseback: "Jerry, I’m in awe. Those are the best mares in the world right there. She’s just amazing. … She was there at any time that I wanted her." Let the Horse of the Year debates begin."She just makes things happen," trainer John Shirreffs tells Jeannine Edwards."She is so special and we are so blessed to have her in our barn." Randy Moss tells us that Jerry and Ann Moss intend to race Zenyatta next year when she’s five. Would that be cool, or what?
Prices: $3 to win, $6.70 on the $1 exacta; $34.30 on the tri; $116.80 for the superfecta, and $254.50 for the Super High 5. Chart.
6:30 p,m. … Nice touch: Joan Gaines, the widow of Breeders’ Cup founder John Gaines, presents the winning trophy to the Mosses. "This is our first Breeders’ Cup win, and she’ll be our first champion," Moss says. "It’s pretty amazing, pretty fantastic." Moss is fighting off tears. "I can’t help it. Applause makes me pretty emotional, somehow. I’m sorry."
A good way to end a very fine day of racing. It was mostly formful, accident free, and definitive in all of the applicable Eclipse Award divisions: Ventura in the filly and mare sprint division; Stardom Bound, 2-year-old fillies; Forever Together, filly and mare turf; and Zenyatta, older filly and mare and possibly, just possibly, Horse of the Year.
We’ll be back for more tomorrow. I hope my selections for Saturday are better than today’s 1-for-6.
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Tags: betting the breeders' cup, bill nack, Breeders' Cup, breeders' cup results, Breeders' Cup World Championships, carla gaines, chris paasch, eight belles, espn2, filly and mare sprint, filly friday, folk opera, forever together, Frank Stronach, frankie dettori, Gary Player, george strawbridge, guinness, hank goldberg, helen pitts, IEAH, jack whitaker, jerry bailey, jerry moss, joe tessitore, joe torre, jonathan sheppard, julian leparoux, kenny mayne, larry jones, lisa rinna, live blogging the breeders' cup, Michael Iavarone, mike smith, Paulick Report, randy moss, Ray Paulick, rick dutrow, santa anita, sealy hill, stardom bound, storm cat, stuart janney, ventura, wait a while, wayne lukas, zenyatta
Posted in Breeders' Cup | 10 Comments »
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
By Ray Paulick
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced a series of sweeping safety and integrity reforms and the hiring of a former governor and Bush administration official during a press conference in New York this morning.
The reforms, organized under the banner of the newly created NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance, touch on a wide range of issues that have been bubbling under the surface for years but came to a head this spring in the wake of the death of the filly Eight Belles in the Kentucky Derby, the revelation that Derby winner Big Brown won while racing legally on anabolic steroids, and a damning Congressional hearing that left industry leaders red-faced and fearful of federal action. The reforms and the creation of the Safety and Integrity Alliance evolved over the last several months from a series of closed-door meetings and a confidential discussion document circulated throughout the industry and published in the Paulick Report in July.
The Alliance, to be funded by the financially challenged NTRA, consists of racetracks, owners, breeders, horsemen, jockeys, auction companies, veterinarians, fans, regulators and breed registries. The NTRA has retained the services of former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, who also served as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services for President George W. Bush and made a brief run for the 2008 presidential nomination of the Republican Party. Thompson will be charged with independently monitoring the program and annually providing public reports on the progress the Alliance has made in meeting its goals.
Thompson, incidentally, attended the 2005 Kentucky Derby and later joined a West Point Thoroughbred partnership that owned Flashy Bull, who was unplaced in the 2006 Derby but subsequently won the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs. According to West Point president Terry Finley, Thompson "loves the racing game" and is in a partnership that currently owns a West Point 2-year-old named Tapit’s Brew.
Click here to read the complete text of the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance and Pledge.
For a list of tracks and racing organizations that have agreed to the pledge, click here.
Following is the NTRA’s press release on the formation of the Safety and Integrity Alliance and the hiring of Thompson as an independent monitor.
NTRA FORMS SAFETY AND INTEGRITY ALLIANCE AND ANNOUNCES SWEEPING REFORMS; TABS FORMER WISCONSIN GOVERNOR TOMMY THOMPSON TO PROVIDE OVERSIGHT
National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) President and CEO Alex Waldrop and Thoroughbred racing industry leaders outlined a series of industry-wide safety and integrity reforms at a press conference in New York today. The NTRA also announced the creation of a new Safety and Integrity Alliance, comprised of the largest tracks and horsemen’s groups in the U.S. and Canada, which will be responsible for implementing the reforms. The Honorable Tommy G. Thompson, former four-term Governor of Wisconsin and Secretary of Health and Human Services, will serve as independent counsel for the new NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance. Governor Thompson will conduct an ongoing review and provide an annual independent and public assessment to the Alliance.
The reform initiatives are the broadest and most comprehensive in the sport’s history, including:
- uniform medication rules for each racing state
- ban of steroids from racing competition
- out-of-competition testing for blood and gene doping agents and pre-race testing
- uniform penalties for all medication infractions
- mandatory on-track and non-racing injury reporting
- mandatory installation of protective inner safety rail
- mandatory pre- and post-race security
- adoption of a placement program for Thoroughbreds no longer competing
The reforms were approved by the NTRA Board of Directors, representing North America’s leading racetracks, owners, breeders and horsemen, at a special Board Meeting in September and communicated via e-mail to fans just prior to the press conference. Waldrop, joined by NTRA Executive Chairman Robert Elliston, Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association Chairman Alan Foreman and Governor Thompson, unveiled an ambitious timetable for implementing reforms, calling on NTRA Alliance member organizations to adopt house rules to enforce the measures until individual states and regulatory agencies can catch up via statute and regulations.
“Our industry is taking strong, positive steps to ensure the safety and integrity of our sport,” said Waldrop. “Despite challenges and significant short-term and long-term costs, there is an unprecedented level of commitment among Thoroughbred racing’s leadership to see these measures through.”
Governor Thompson—currently a partner in the Washington, D.C., offices of the law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld—will lead a team that will independently review, monitor and assess the program and provide annual public reports of the industry’s progress toward achieving its goals in the area of human and equine health and safety.
"Our first priority is to insure the health and safety of the athletes and horses in the racing industry,” said Thompson. “On its own initiative, the NTRA has taken a great step forward in committing to reforms and the creation of an important new body to oversee implementation of the reforms. I will take my independent oversight role seriously and work to assure transparency in this process.”
The NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance will be a standing organization whose purpose is to implement safety and integrity reforms. The Alliance also will function as a certification/accreditation body for the purpose of recognizing and incentivizing compliance by all stakeholders. Reforms will be undertaken using a phased approach that begins immediately—in some cases, under a House Rules format—and transitions to a broader strategy that relies on licensure requirements, continuing education programs and the state regulatory process.
“The health and safety of all participants in Thoroughbred racing – both human and equine – have always been top priorities at Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby, and all of our company’s racetracks,” said Robert Evans, President and CEO of Churchill Downs, Inc. “We know that the job is never done where safety is concerned. We fully support the NTRA’s development of safety and integrity standards and the annual certification of tracks that meet those standards. On the issues of safety and integrity, we believe we must hold ourselves to only the highest standards. Our customers do.”
Virtually every leading racetrack and horsemen’s association in North America, representing some one million industry participants, has pledged its support to the Alliance and the reforms. Waldrop indicated that, in the coming weeks, the Alliance will be broadened to include other racing organizations, individuals and fans; and that additional reforms, including wagering integrity issues, will be addressed by the Alliance.
"The horsemen are the people who are ultimately responsible for the day-to-day care and safety of the Thoroughbred,” said Alan Foreman, Chairman of the national Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. “As such, the health and safety of our horses and the integrity of our sport are our highest priorities. We are committed to seeing that these reforms and standards are implemented across the nation."
The reforms include improvements to medication and testing policies, guidelines for injury reporting and prevention, safety research, providing a safer racing environment, and post-racing care for retired race horses. They are drawn from the recommendations that have emerged over the past several months from The Jockey Club’s Thoroughbred Safety Committee and Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, Breeders’ Cup Limited, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association’s Graded Stakes Committee and the long-standing work of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium and the Association of Racing Commissioners International, among others.
“Fortunately, we have the excellent work of many industry organizations to build on, allowing us to focus on implementation, oversight, measurement and transparency,” said Waldrop. “The reforms and the plan for implementation have been conceived by those who have pledged to operate at a higher level of integrity.”
The NTRA is a broad-based coalition of horse racing interests consisting of leading thoroughbred racetracks, owners, breeders, trainers and affiliated horse racing associations, charged with increasing the popularity of horse racing and improving economic conditions for industry participants. The NTRA has offices in Lexington, Ky., and New York. NTRA press releases appear on the NTRA web site, NTRA.com.
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Tags: akin gump strauss hauer and feld, alan foreman, alex waldrop, american graded stakes committee, anabolic steroids, association of racing commissioners international, backstretch security, Barbaro, bob elliston, bob evans, Breeders' Cup, churchill downs, eight belles, former wisconsin governor, injury reporting, Jockey Club, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, NTRA, ntra safety and integrity alliance, out of competition testing, post-, post-race security, pre-race security, racing injuries, racing medication and testing consortium, RCI, rmtc, robert elliston, robert evans, safety rail, steroids ban, thoroughbred horsemen's association, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, thoroughbred safety committee, tommy g. thompson, tommy thompson, uniform medication, welfare and safety of the racehorse summit
Posted in Horse Racing, Horse Welfare, Industry, Industry Organizations, Industry Reform, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Regulatory Issues | 9 Comments »
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
By Ray Paulick
The horse business is Kentucky’s signature industry, employing tens of thousands of people, generating over a billion dollars of revenue throughout the year, and putting the international spotlight on the Commonwealth each spring at the Kentucky Derby. Yet, in many ways, legislators and other government officials have been dealing with the industry almost as an afterthought.
Tax breaks given to lesser industries have not been granted to farmers whose agricultural product happens to be a horse instead of a cow. Kentucky’s legislature was late to the party to create an incentive fund to reward breeders for doing business in the Bluegrass State rather than shipping their breeding stock (and jobs) out of state where more lucrative incentives have been created. And now, one of the most troublesome challenges the racing industry faces – questions about the integrity of the sport and its pari-mutuel wagering foundation – has been hampered by ongoing budgetary shortfalls at the state agency that regulates racing.
Simply put, the integrity of racing in Kentucky is being jeopardized by indifference by some at the legislative and executive level to properly fund the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
The problem goes back nearly eight years ago to the administration of Gov. Paul Patton, who cut $1 million dollars – nearly one-third – out of what was then known as the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority. Frank Shoop, then the chairman of the regulatory body, told the Paulick Report he thought the cuts were temporary and would be restored; they weren’t. Instead, the Racing Authority began assessing racetracks as much as $3,500 a day to pay for many of the functions that would previously have been funded by the state. “It’s so important to the signature industry of the state,” Shoop said. “They should have proper money to regulate the industry: transportation, insurance and other departments have proper regulatory budgets. This department has been short of money and short of money for years.
“I don’t know what the proper funding action should be,” Shoop added, “but something needs to be done that the legislature and governor can agree on.”
If something isn’t done, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission will run out of money by Jan. 1, according to Tracy Farmer, a Thoroughbred owner and breeder and high-level operative in the Democratic Party that helped elect Gov. Steve Beshear last November. Farmer was named by Beshear to the current horse racing commission, where he serves as vice chairman, and is heading up a special Task Force on the Future of Horse Racing examining numerous issues related to racing and breeding.
Farmer told the Paulick Report that Kentucky’s General Assembly had $2 million set aside for the racing commission for the current fiscal year but they subsequently “raided our accounts to balance the (state) budget.” Farmer said he and others are looking at ways to fund the commission through such revenue items as the tax on claiming horses, which he estimated generates $2 million per year. “Money is being generated that’s not being put back into the industry,” Farmer said. “We’re looking at several different methodologies and will recommend one of them. This is the largest industry in the state. We have to fund the people who oversee it.”
State Sen. Damon Thayer, a Republican from Georgetown and a consultant in the racing industry who helped create the breeders’ incentive fund through existing revenue drawn from the tax on stallion seasons, pushed for legislation that would have Kentucky’s General Fund provide for the commission’s budget. That legislation failed, Thayer said, despite bi-partisan efforts to get it passed.
“The racetracks are struggling, the commission is without money, and the state is in a budget crisis,” Thayer said. “We need more money for the commission to have boots on the ground to do their job. And we were saying this before Eight Belles and Big Brown.”
The death of Eight Belles in this year’s Kentucky Derby and the admission by trainer Rick Dutrow that Derby winner Big Brown raced on anabolic steroids (then legal) has prompted an outcry for tighter regulations, stricter medication rules, and more comprehensive drug testing. Anabolic steroids have recently been banned in Kentucky and several other states, and that ban requires additional testing be added to the existing drug testing program.
Thayer plans to introduce new legislation during the next session of the General Assembly.
“What needs to happen is Gov. Beshear needs to get behind legislation drafted by Sen. Ed Worley (D-Richmond) and me that would set up a reliable, recurring source of revenue for the racing commission so the tracks do not pay for drug testing and their own regulation. The racing commission needs to be funded by the pari-mutuel excise tax so we can expand drug testing to a respectable level.”
According to Thayer, the pari-mutuel tax currently helps fund the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, equine drug research and the University of Louisville’s equine business program.
The lack of funding came to a head at a recent meeting of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission when it was disclosed testing was not conducted for performance-enhancing milkshakes (TCO2 levels or bicarbonate loading) at Ellis Park this summer because of a personnel shortage. Since that disclosure, the commission’s chief veterinarian resigned his position.
“We were shocked to learn that no testing was conducted,” said Farmer.
It may have taken weeks for commission members to learn that there was no testing for milkshakes, but trainers probably knew instantly, permitting cheaters to prosper. The absence of testing shook the confidence of many horseplayers about whether the state is doing enough to stop performance-enhancing drugs from giving an edge to some trainers.
The racing commission’s executive director, Lisa Underwood, who was hired during the previous administration of Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher, has plans to expand the size of the staff if funding is provided. She has submitted a plan to add investigators, state veterinarians and other full and part-time staff to better regulate racing and ensure its integrity.
Ed Martin, president of the Association of Racing Commissioners International, told the Task Force on the Future of Horse Racing when he became aware of how little was committed to Kentucky’s commission that he was “shocked at how low a priority the integrity of racing apparently was, especially considering how important the racing industry is to the state’s economy and identity.”
Martin compiled a study of how much is committed to integrity issues in other major racing states and found that Kentucky, “instead of being first, is last.”
His study showed Kentucky commits $7,692 per race day, less than half of the $17,948 committed by Florida for integrity enforcement. Martin said the Kentucky commission is sorely lacking investigators to monitor backstretch activities. Kentucky has two investigators, he said, compared with 14 in New York, 15 in Pennsylvania, 17 in Florida, and 18 in California.
“ Perhaps the most glaring weakness in the funding can be seen in the fact that no resources have been dedicated to policing the pari-mutuel system,” Martin said.“Kentucky in the past has dedicated nothing in this area while other major racing states have made a considerable commitment in this area, not only in terms of staff, but to ensure that an independent computerized monitoring system is deployed to protect against past posting, odds manipulations, cyber crime, and larceny. In public forum after public forum, large bettors have expressed a growing concern about the lack of commitment to wagering security.
“ While some states have committed as many as six people to wagering security and made arrangements for independent monitoring, Kentucky has yet to commit one.”
Many bettors are convinced the technology used in today’s pari-mutuel wagering system is archaic and able to be exploited by techno-savvy players who are making bets after the gates to a race have been opened. One member of the Kentucky Racing Commission who asked not to be named agreed: “There is no question people are betting after the horses are out of the gate,” he said. “They are somehow getting into the pool. It’s frightening.”
Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report
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Tags: association of racing commissioners international, bicarbonate loading, Big Brown, bluegrass state, churchill downs, damon thayer, drug testing, ed martin, ed worley, eight belles, ellis park, ernie fletcher, frank shoop, Horse Racing, Keeneland, kentucky horse racing, kentucky horse racing authority, kentucky horse racing commission, kentucky thoroughbred development fund, lisa underwood, pari-mutuel wagering, paul patton, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, RCI, steve beshear, task force on the future of horse racing, tco2, thoroughbred racing, tracy farmer, turfway park, university of louisville equiine business program, wagering integrity
Posted in Horse Racing, Industry Organizations, Kentucky, Medication, Regulatory Issues, Tote System, Wagering | 2 Comments »
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