Posts Tagged ‘suffolk downs’

By Ray Paulick
When the committee that doles out Eclipse Awards of Merit or Special Eclipse Awards announced the other day that Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation founder and longtime chairman Monique Koehler would be a recipient of a Special Eclipse Award next month, my first thought was, “What took so long?”

But then I remembered this is an industry predicated on past performances, and the past performances suggest that recognition of people and organizations dedicated to the health and welfare of retired racehorses comes reluctantly and over time.

I first became aware of the TRF more than 20 years ago, some five years after Koehler started the organization in 1982. I was working for a Thoroughbred publication and was asked to come up with a list of potential story ideas to be used for upcoming features. I called some friends in different parts of the country looking for ideas and one of them told me about this fascinating operation based at an upstate New York prison that took in retired racehorses and stabled them at the prison, where inmates would care for them. It was a proverbial win-win situation: good for the horses, good for the rehabilitation of the inmates.

When I suggested to the editor that a feature on the TRF be considered, I thought for sure I’d get two thumbs up. I was stunned when he told me, “Oh, we can’t do that. We don’t want people to find out what really happens to all those horses when they’re done racing.”

It was my first exposure to one of the sport’s dirty little secrets, that ex-racehorses often wind up in a slaughterhouse somewhere, destined for a dinner plate overseas, or perhaps as food for a dog or other animal. Turns out the glue factory was more than a cliché.

Monique and the TRF’s longtime executive director, Diana Pikulski, have fought hard for the organization’s mission to be recognized, much less accepted, in the Thoroughbred media and by the industry they have done so much to help. As the TRF grew, admitting more horses into a prison program that expanded to other states and to satellite farms, the struggle became an economic one of how to feed and care for the thousands of Thoroughbreds retired from the racetrack each year.

Gradually, they picked up important advocates, like the late John Hettinger, whose money, influence and outspoken passion for the cause advanced the TRF and its mission. Many similar organizations popped up around the country, but the TRF to this day remains the largest national charity devoted to helping retired Thoroughbred racehorses.

Critics, including, ironically, the American Association of Equine Practitioners, an organization also devoted to the health and welfare of horses, have pooh-poohed the TRF and similar organizations, saying their efforts to save horses represent a drop in the bucket when compared to the total number of unwanted Thoroughbreds. But should the fact that not all Thoroughbreds can be saved from slaughter or neglect prevent rescue and retirement organizations from saving those they can, and often placing them in second careers as performance or pleasure horses?

I don’t think so, and I believe the AAEP has been on the wrong side of this issue for many years. (Disclosure: I served on the AAEP board of directors in a non-veterinary “industry seat” for three years where I tried to be an advocate for rescue/retirement groups. I currently am a member of the TRF board.)

The efforts of Koehler, Pikulski, Hettinger, web publisher and horseman Alex Brown and many others have raised awareness to this issue, and some of racing’s largest institutions now recognize that supporting racehorse retirement is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do for the industry’s tarnished image among the general public.

Along the way, trainers like Nick Zito, Todd Pletcher, Gary Contessa and the late John Russell stepped forward as advocates, along with owners and breeders like Gary Biszantz, Madeline Auerbach and the late Trudy McCaffery (there are many more who have stepped up). Numerous breeders and stallion farms have supported fundraisers through the donation of stallion seasons.

Richard Fields, the majority owner of Suffolk Downs, showed tremendous leadership when instituting a policy at the New England racetrack banning trainers who dump horses into auctions where the animals usually are destined for slaughter. Churchill Downs and Magna Entertainment developed policies and positions of support for racehorse retirement, and most recently the New York Racing Association adopted a policy and pledged funds to assist the retirement of horses. The Jockey Club has taken a strong position of support, and that was a most significant development.

There are holdouts, including the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, whose silence and lack of leadership on the issue is a sore spot with many people. But as Monique Koehler knows more than anyone else, these things take time.

So rather than criticizing the committee that took more than a quarter of a century to recognize Monique Koehler for starting a national movement that represents so much that is good about the people in this industry, I say “thank you” to the organizations that voted her this award: the Daily Racing Form, National Turf Writers Association and even the NTRA.

More importantly, if they could talk, the thousands of horses that have been or will be saved as a result of Monique’s tireless dedication and advocacy would say thank you as well.

The best way you can thank Monique is by supporting the TRF through a donation. Click here to learn more about the organization and here to make a donation.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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Liberation Farm celebrates the many horsemen and horsewomen who strive each day to make things better for horses and those who work with them.  To learn more about Liberation Farm, click here.

By Ray Paulick
Richard Fields, the owner of Suffolk Downs in East Boston, Mass., is no shrinking violet when it comes to business. The one-time owner of the Catch a Rising Star comedy clubs became a real-life apprentice to Donald Trump and later trumped The Donald on a billion-dollar deal to develop the Seminole Indian tribe’s Hard Rock casinos in Hollywood and Tampa, Fla.

But by all accounts Fields is just an old softie when it comes to animals. He is a generous supporter of horse retirement and retraining programs, including the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and CANTER New England. Under his urging, Suffolk Downs became the first track to establish a policy banning trainers whose horses ended up being sold or transported to slaughter plants. He’s also been a longtime supporter of the American Quarter Horse Association Foundation and many of its youth programs, through the Fields Family Foundation and Jackson Land & Cattle, his ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyo., where Fields keeps some retired Thoroughbreds himself.

“I wish we had 10 track owners like him,” a prominent New York Thoroughbred horseman recently told me.

Fields bought Suffolk Downs in 2007 when it appeared the track might be on the ropes for the second time in 20 years. Suffolk was closed for more than two years until the late James Moseley took control and brought it back to life in 1992. During his all-too-short tenure as chairman of the board (Moseley died in 1998), Suffolk Downs enjoyed a revival, highlighted by back-to-back victories in the 1995-96 Massachusetts Handicap by two-time Horse of the Year Cigar. But the economics worsened following Moseley’s death, and Coastal Development, a company owned by Fields, bought controlling interest with the hope of bringing Suffolk Downs back to some semblance of its glory days.

The track opened in 1935 to more than 35,000 fans, and over the next 20 years, crowds upward of 60,000 showed up to see such racing stars as Seabiscuit, War Admiral, Whirlaway and Stymie. The Beatles came to Suffolk Downs for an infield concert in 1966 that attracted more than 25,000 screaming fans. A few years later, legendary Major League Baseball team owner Bill Veeck (as in wreck) took over management of the track, which by then was in steep decline, bringing his unique and sometimes outrageous brand of marketing to horse racing. (Veeck sent a midget to the plate as a pinch hitter when he owned the Cleveland Indians, had the first exploding scoreboard with fireworks at Comiskey Park in Chicago, dressed his 1970s version of the White Sox in shorts, and had the mother of all bad promotions in 1979, disco demolition night, which resulted in an inside the park riot and cancellation of the second game of a doubleheader ).

There are a couple of odd holdovers from Veeck’s short-lived management of the track: a huge, wood-paneled office he had built, complete with fireplace, overlooking the turf club dining room and racetrack. It currently sits empty, as something of a tribute to Veeck. Adjacent to the office is one-of-a-kind shower, with a dozen evenly-spaced water jets, that Veeck would use after making his morning rounds on the backstretch. (Veeck had a “peg leg” he removed for bathing purposes and apparently had difficulty using a standard shower.)

Back to Fields. He’s done more than demonstrate a real concern for the animals who are at the heart of this game. His humane policies on that front attracted the attention of horse owners Tracy and Carol Farmer and trainer Nick Zito, who cited Fields’ anti-slaughter position when deciding to race recently retired Commentator in the 2008 MassCap. In addition, while recognizing the importance of good corporate citizenship, Fields and his management team have instituted a number of outreach programs, headed by the Community Winner’s Circle, which recognizes individuals and groups who have dedicated themselves to worthy causes in the surrounding communities. It’s a special Saturday program that runs over the first two months of the meeting each spring.

Suffolk Downs is also the host of the Greater Boston Walk Now for Autism. In its first year in 2007, more than 16,000 walkers circled the dirt track, and the 2008 walk attracted more than 20,000 individuals raising money and awareness for the Autism Speaks charity. All told, the track supports nearly 90 charities.

Fields said his goal when he bought controlling interest of Suffolk Downs was to keep Thoroughbred racing alive in New England, and he injected new life immediately by increasing marketing budgets with an eye toward rebuilding the fan base. But he has bigger plans for the facility than simply offering live racing. He hopes to get legislative support allowing him to build a destination resort casino at Suffolk Downs, something that hasn’t been easy to accomplish.

The drive for a resort casino led to the formation of the Coalition for Jobs and Growth (click here for information). Among other things, the organization’s web site keeps an ongoing tally of how much money Massachusetts residents are gambling in the neighboring states of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maine (the current amount exceeds $700 million for the year). Fields and his management team are hoping to convince legislators that a resort casino in the Boston area (as opposed to a racino or racing operation with slot machines) offers the best chance to greatly increase tax revenue to the state and revive horse racing at Suffolk Downs.

Is this native New Yorker (Fields was born and raised in the Bronx) practicing good corporate citizenship and providing a safer haven for horses merely as a means to convince legislators to pass the casino legislation? I don’t think so. But even if that was the case, he is giving horse racing a good name in New England, a major market that has a great and long association with the sport. It’s a market we can’t afford to lose.

Liberation Farm celebrates the many horsemen and horsewomen who strive each day to make things better for horses and those who work with them.  To learn more about Liberation Farm, click here.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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On the eve of some great racing – the 2009 Dubai World Cup and the Florida Derby, it is a good time to point out the times the Paulick Report has highlighted the brighter side of life in the Thoroughbred industry. While the news seems pretty bleak and often is, there are many positive things we can all focus on as we look forward to an exciting 3-year-old season — for both colts and fillies.

Back during the week of Thanksgiving, we spent each day highlighting one of the many strong Thoroughbred charities working hard to make our industry a more humane one for the horses that compete and the people who help put on the show. We began that week with Anna House, an extension of the Belmont Child Care Association AT Belmont Park that provides childcare for the hard-working backstretch employees. There was ReRun, a horse adoption organization that put together an auction of their “Moneigh” collection to raise funds. We explored the multi-faceted mission of Thoroughbred Charities of America, a former colleague of mine at the Bloodhorse and Thoroughbred Times who dedicates much of his time to the Salvation Army, a halfway house of sorts in Tranquility Farm which transitions Thoroughbreds from the racetrack to adoptive homes and the Exceller Fund, named after the hall of fame horse who died tragically in a European slaughterhouse.

We also featured The Pickens Plan…not the one that’s trying to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. This Pickens plan was run by T. Boone’s wife Madeleine who has a passion for saving wild horses and restoring some of our nation’s tradition of mustangs roaming the Western front. Having an extensive background in the industry after being a partner in the Eclipse award-winning racing and breeding operation with her late husband Allen Paulson, she has decided to work towards giving many of these unwanted animals a sanctuary. We wish her luck and will continue to follow her quest in 2009 and beyond.

And then there are the untold stories of racetracks that are doing things right, both morally and financially. We tip our hat to Suffolk Downs, the first track to step up with a “zero-tolerance” horse welfare program that bans trainers whose horses are sold to slaughter. I had the great pleasure of visiting both Tampa Bay Downs and Oaklawn Park early in 2009. In a time when many tracks are struggling and see slot machines as their only salvation, these two are concentrating on the racing in Thoroughbred racing…and creating a winning product.

It has been a strong fund drive this week and I want to thank those who provided us with moral or financial support.  I feel blessed to have this opportunity to help shape the conversation as we travel through these important crossroads. Sometimes it seems like a daunting task to find long-term solutions to this sport we all love so much, but together I believe we can truly change the course of our industry. If you think the Paulick Report is an effective tool in working through these problems, I ask that you consider a donation of $2,000, $1,000, $500, $250, $100 or $50 to help further enhance this site. When considering your donation, compare our value to the $50 cost of a Sports Illustrated subscription, $100 for a year of the Bloodhorse and $1,000 for a full year of the online Racing Form subscription. All donations are kept strictly anonymous.

Click here to support the Paulick Report either via PayPal or the mail.

 By Ray Paulick

Santa Anita Park will be the focal point of the racing world on Friday and Saturday with the 25^th running of the Breeders’ Cup world championships, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the nation’s tracks have gone into hibernation for the week.

It was the second time the event was held at Suffolk Downs following the successful debut last year when more than $1.3 million was raised and 15,000 turned out to take a couple of laps around the one-mile track. All proceeds from the event benefit Autism Speaks, the nation’s leading autism advocacy organization. A growing health crisis, autism is a complex brain disorder now affecting one in every 150 children by inhibiting their ability to commmunicate and develop social relationshiops, and is often accompanied by extreme behavioral challenges. A child is diagnosed with autism every 20 minutes.

Since becoming principal owner of Suffolk Downs last March, Richard Fields has elevated the profile of the track in both the racing and local communities through his support of events like Walk Now for Autism and the creation of a policy to prevent racehorses that compete at his track from being sent to slaughter.  Fields has been a welcome and positive addition to the industry.

In a press teleconference that included former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, whose Washington law firm has been hired to independently monitor the reform movement’s progress, NTRA president and CEO Alex Waldrop called the Alliance a “voluntary” organization. He suggested tracks that don’t conform to the Alliance’s Code of Conduct may be considered pariahs by horseplayers, who will bet their money at tracks that do comply. Waldrop also failed to substantively answer any questions about how the industry will pay for the reforms, even going so far as to say the NTRA has no idea how much the reforms will cost. Click here to read the teleconference transcripts.

HALSEY MINOR IS NOT GIVING UP ON HIALEAH PARK. Just because the technology entrepreneur has shifted his attention to MI Developments, the controlling shareholder of the near-bankrupt racetrack company Magna Entertainment, doesn’t mean he’s taken his eye off Hialeah Park, the dormant South Florida track he wants to buy.

Minor told the Paulick Report he intends to legally challenge the city of Hialeah’s right to turn over the deed for Hialeah Park to John Brunetti four years ago at the end of a 30-year lease agreement between Hialeah and Brunetti. Minor contends that Brunetti failed to live up to the terms of the lease by failing to offer live racing, not holding a pari-mutuel license and falling behind in his payments to the city. Minor thinks the city of Hialeah should enforce an eminent domain claim on the land. If not, he said he has a team of lawyers ready to strike.

Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report

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