Posts Tagged ‘William S. Farish’
Monday, December 29th, 2008
By Ray Paulick
One of the first projects that landed on my desk when I joined the Thoroughbred Times as managing editor in 1988 was a feature story on the Jockey Club, the organization historically entrusted with registering Thoroughbreds and being the keeper of the Stud Book. The article was accompanied by a lengthy mail-in survey of Thoroughbred Times readers. The story and the survey results were of great interest, for at the time I had no idea how broadly the Jockey Club reached across the entire industry and how unhappy rank and file breeders then were with the organization’s service, pricing and activities.
It should be noted that there was an agenda to the article. The Thoroughbred Times was then owned by Richard F. Broadbent, whose Bloodstock Research Information Services was facing new competition from a subsidiary of the Jockey Club. There were questions about whether a tax-exempt breed registry like the Jockey Club should create a subsidiary to compete with a private enterprise company like BRIS, which supplied statistical data to breeders, owners and various publications. A few years later, the Jockey Club helped form another for-profit company, Equibase, which competed with the Daily Racing Form to collect racing results (the Form eventually closed its track and field operations and became Equibase’s biggest customer). The Jockey Club has since started other for-profit businesses.
One of the things that struck me was the comparison between how the Jockey Club and the American Quarter Horse Association conduct their business. The Jockey Club is clearly a breed apart from its Quarter Horse counterpart. The AQHA, then and now, is a relatively transparent organization, one whose membership is open and whose leadership is democratically elected through regional and national elections. There is a board of directors, from which comes an executive committee and elected officers. The AQHA has term limits that prevent individuals from maintaining longstanding control of the organization. The AQHA web site publishes a great deal of information about its governance and membership rules, which can be read here.
By comparison, membership in the Jockey Club has always been by invitation only. Click here for an explanation about membership. It is "governed" by a rotating board of stewards, though that term is used loosely since the Jockey Club has been under the firm control of just two men since 1982, when Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps was named chairman and William S. Farish became vice chairman (pictured left). Click here to see the current list of Jockey Club members, stewards, and officers.
The AQHA is a huge organization that maintains the registration of more than five million Quarter Horses, with 135,000 registered in 2007 alone. There are nearly 350,000 AQHA members. According to Internal Revenue Service Form 990 for tax exempt organizations, the AQHA generated $54.4 million in revenue in the 2005-06 fiscal year, the most recent year available. At that time it had $73 million in total assets, including nearly $49 million in investment securities. Click here for the AQHA Form 990.
The AQHA, like the Jockey Club, maintains pedigree records, but also promotes the Quarter Horse breed through horse shows and publishes three magazines (the Quarter Horse Journal, the Quarter Horse Racing Journal, and America’s Horse) that had total circulation of over 400,000 in 2006.
The AQHA charges as little as $25 to register a Quarter Horse foal if done within seven months of birth. The organization is based in Amarillo, Texas, and its highest-paid officer, longtime executive vice president Billie G. Brewer, earned an annual salary of $424,928; treasurer Lee Callaway was paid $221,965 (both figures are from the IRS Form 990.) The two executive salaries represented 5.5% of the AQHA’s total payroll of $11,725,124.
The Jockey Club is also a rich organization, one that is exempt from federal taxes but also has several wholly owned for-profit subsidiaries. The Jockey Club’s 2006 IRS Form 990 states that it registered 37,300 foals that year. The Jockey Club generated $13.2 million in revenue in 2006, the most recent year the figures are available. It claimed $32 million in total assets, including $21.6 million in investment securities. Click here for the Jockey Club Form 990.
In addition, the Jockey Club claimed that its subsidiaries generated over $25.7 million in income for 2006 ($13.7 million by TJC Holdings Inc. & Subsidiaries, which is engaged in information services and software solutions; $4.9 million by The Jockey Club Racing Services, for the collection of Thoroughbred racing data; and $7.1 million by The Jockey Club Technology Services, Inc., for its technology services). Click here for more information on those subsidiaries, which include shared ownership in the data collection company Equibase, and full ownership of TJCIS (The Jockey Club Information Systems and data supplier Equineline), and InCompass Solutions, which provides software systems for racetracks.
The Jockey Club’s IRS Form 990 lists its annual Round Table Conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., publication of its Fact Book, and providing financial support to other industry organizations among reasons for its tax-exempt status, in addition to its breed-registry responsibilities.
The Jockey Club charges $200 to register a Thoroughbred foal, considerably higher than the AQHA’s fee. Its last increase was in 2000, when it was upped from $175. The Jockey Club, which for many years was known as the “New York Jockey Club,” relocated its registration department from New York to Kentucky in 1988.
Its highest-paid officer is president Alan Marzelli (pictured, left), who earned $672,796 in 2006, 58% more than the AQHA’s top executive. The Jockey Club has three executive vice presidents: James Gagliano, with a salary of $256,885; Daniel Fick, $243,546; and Laura Banllaro, $243,804. IRS Form 990 also lists but does not itemize another $542,776 in 2006 pension plan contributions for those officers. The salaries represented 39.1% of the Jockey Club’s total payroll of $3,626,092 (exclusive of its subsidiaries, each of which have its own executive staff and employees).
The Jockey Club’s 2006 tax return came to light recently when an entity called “CTBA Boardwatch” (which generally concerns itself with the inner workings of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association) distributed IRS Form 990 to numerous individuals. A number of those people contacted the Paulick Report and were outraged over the salaries paid to Marzelli and his three executive vice presidents.
I don’t know the going rate of executive compensation for a tax-exempt company in New York, where three of the four Jockey Club officers are based (only Dan Fick, a former AQHA executive, is located in the Lexington offices of the Jockey Club). Perhaps those numbers are perfectly in line with other non-profits. I would imagine, though, that the going rate for an executive staff is higher in New York than it would be in Kentucky.
It does seem strange to me that the Jockey Club continues to maintain a nicely appointed office in the high-rent district of midtown Manhattan, on 52nd Street just off Park Avenue. I doubt that it’s gotten many walk-in customers seeking to register their foals since the registration department was moved to Lexington more than 20 years ago. It is conveniently located near the headquarters of Bessemer Trust, the Phipps family-run wealth management firm whose offices are just a few blocks away on Fifth Avenue.
I asked Jockey Club communications officer Bob Curran why the Jockey Club continues to have a New York office 20 years after the organization’s primary function was relocated to Lexington. A few days later I received the following statement from Jockey Club president Marzelli: “Beginning in 1989, when the first of our commercial subsidiaries was incorporated, The Jockey Club has created and developed a group of for-profit subsidiaries and strategic partnerships, each designed to serve specific segments within the industry by utilizing highly efficient, state-of-the-art technology platforms. We have built and managed this growing list of technology-based companies with a corporate office based in New York and operations centers in Lexington, Ky., and Mountain View, Calif.”
That didn’t really answer the question “why a New York office is necessary” although it did tell me something I didn’t know; namely, that the Jockey Club now has a division in California’s high-tech Silicon Valley town of Mountain View.
The bigger question is who is the Jockey Club accountable to. Is it simply Phipps and Farish and their hand-picked stewards? Is the breeders who have paid registration fees over the 100-plus years of its existence? Is the Thoroughbred industry at large? If there is accountability to the industry, why isn’t there more transparency in the operational and financial activities of the Jockey Club and its various subsidiaries? Why is its membership so restrictive and its governance so secretive?
James Gagliano, one of the aforementioned executive vice presidents, touched on some of these questions, during the Jockey Club Round Table in August in which he discussed some of the activities of the Jockey Club and its affiliate for-profit companies. Click here to read Gagliano’s remarks.
Are you satisfied that the Jockey Club is properly and responsibly representing the best interests of the Thoroughbred industry? Let us know in the comment section below, or take the Daily Paulick Poll about the Jockey Club and its activities, located on the left-hand column of the Paulick Report home page.
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Tags: Alan Marzelli, american quarter horse association, aqha, bessemer, bessemer trust, billie brewer, billie g. brewer, bloodstock research information services, bob curran, breed registry, bris, california thoroughbred breeders association, ctba, ctba boardwatch, daily racing form, dan fick, Dinny Phipps, equibase, Horse Racing, incompass, james gagliano, Jockey Club, jockey club racing services, jockey club round table, jockey club steward, jockey club survey, jockey club technology services, laura banllaro, Ogden Mills Phipps, Paulick Report, phipps family, quarter horse, Ray Paulick, richard f. broadbent, the jockey club information systems, thoroughbred, Thoroughbred breeding, thoroughbred times, tjc, tjc holdings, tjcis, Will Farish, William S. Farish Posted in Breeding, Industry Organizations, Jockey Club, daily racing form | 27 Comments »
Monday, December 15th, 2008
By Ray Paulick
Last week’s decision by the Breeders’ Cup board of directors to suspend the program that put $6 million in purse enhancements into stakes races around the country in 2008 has brought an angry outcry from breeders who nominate their foals and stallions to the Breeders’ Cup in part because of the incentive created by that money. Some are saying they feel betrayed by the board and want a refund on their nominations because the decision was announced after the foal nominations deadline. Others are suggesting the move will cause some breeders to stop nominating stallions and foals in the future.
A press release issued late Friday said the stakes program has been suspended for 2009 and other cost-cutting measures have been adopted due to “anticipated losses in nominations revenue because of recent trends in the bloodstock market and decreased revenue related to the worldwide economic downturn.”
Breeders’ Cup president and CEO Greg Avioli told the Paulick Report on Sunday that a $10-million decline in revenues is anticipated: $4 million less in stallion and foal nominations compared with 2008; $3 million less in sponsorship money; and $3 million less in revenue from the two-day world championships, which are scheduled to return to Santa Anita Park in Southern California Nov. 6-7.
Purses for the world championships will remain at their 2008 level of $25.5 million. The board’s vote on the various budget actions at its Dec. 11 meeting was unanimous, Avioli said.
The Breeders’ Cup press release failed to disclose that the non-profit organization has lost approximately $11 million in the stock market this year and that its cash reserves have declined by more than 25%, from $40 million at the beginning of 2008 to less than $30 million today.
Even with those losses, some breeders believe the cash reserves, which many of them view as an “emergency fund” created from their nominations money, should have been used to make up the projected 2009 budget shortfall as an alternative to elimination of the $6 million from the stakes program. Avioli said the board did not want to budget a deficit for 2009 and would not dip into cash reserves to pay operating costs.
“The projections are for us to go from $50 million to $40 million in revenues,” he said. “That’s what the board was faced with, and it was a simple choice for 2009, once they determined we would not operate at a deficit: reduce championship purses or suspend the stakes program.”
To help meet the budget reductions, Avioli said, marketing costs for the “Win and You’re In” Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series have been cut from $6 million to $2 million. “That means no national media this year,” he said, “no inserts in major publications. We eliminated all the mid-year ABC telecasts and we are down to two shows on ESPN in the fall, four and five weeks out from the championships. That saved us $500,000.”
The changes caught many people by surprise, including numerous members of the 48-person Breeders’ Cup board of members and trustees contacted by the Paulick Report. The members and trustees have no specific power other than to elect the 13 members of the Breeders’ Cup board of directors, but some of them feel the smaller operating board should at least consult or poll them on issues as important as the decision to suspend the stakes program.
STAKES PROGRAM A REASON TO NOMINATE
“Nobody called me, nobody said a word to me, and there was no discussion about this,” one member/trustee said. “This stakes program is one of the reasons people nominate. The purse supplements give breeders, especially those outside of Kentucky, an incentive to participate. Without this program, many of them will stop nominating their foals and stallions.”
Another member/trustee who is based outside of Kentucky concurred. “There are a lot of breeders in my state with 40 or 50 foals a year who pick out the 10 best ones and nominate them,” he said, “not because they think they can win one of the big races but because of these smaller Breeders’ Cup stakes around the country. It’s the only reason they nominate.”
Minnesota-based breeder David Miller wrote the Paulick Report, saying: “As a regional breeder who has nominated his foals for the last few years, these supplements were my only chance to realistically recoup the investment. What is my recourse? The money is paid in and after re-reading the nominations terms, it appears the Breeders’ Cup will be making no refunds under any circumstances.”
Avioli disagrees that the stakes program has played a major role in nominations. “We’ve done qualitative and quantitative research and we never got results back that the stakes program was the driving reason people nominated,” he said. “The two reasons that came out in research is the opportunity to have a horse be eligible for the championship days and the perceived increased value at sales for Breeders’ Cup nominated horses. This is not something we took lightly when we removed it, and I can’t tell you it’s not going to be restored in the future.”
Kentucky-based breeder Tom Evans, who operates Trackside Farm, made the following comment about the suspension of the program: “As a breeder who annually contributes funding for the Breeders’ Cup, I would appreciate the financial detail as to why the Breeders’ Cup needs to suspend nearly $6 million in co-funding for 2009 stakes races throughout the country. The catch phrase ‘challenging economic environment’ lacks the detail that supporters of the program deserve. And, since the Breeders’ Cup finds it necessary to suspend funding, what measures have they taken to cut costs in other areas such as corporate overhead and executive compensation?”
Avioli — whose compensation package was $517,965 plus another $248,175 in employee benefits in 2006 (the most recent year the Breeders’ Cup IRS Form 990 is available) – said the organization eliminated five full-time positions in the last year and will cut one additional job by the end of 2008. “Our total (2009) compensation budget is basically flat with 2008,” he said. The Breeders’ Cup 2007 annual report showed $3.6 million spent on personnel costs (2008 figures are not available). It is paying $266,160 in 2008 and 2009 to former CEO D.G. Van Clief Jr. as part of an $890,000 severance package he received when he stepped down in 2006.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE CASH RESERVES?
John Sikura, of Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Kentucky, a member/trustee who unsuccessfully sought a seat on the operating board earlier this year, has been an outspoken critic of the Breeders’ Cup board’s handling of its cash reserves. Sikura doesn’t understand why the reserves are not being used to cover anticipated shortfalls in 2009 to keep the stakes program intact.
“Those reserves are there for times of emergency,” Sikura said. “This is certainly one of those times. They should have funded the program, at the very least through 2009, because people have made reliances on this stakes program, and to have the rug pulled out from under them is wrong. These programs are not secondary to the racetracks or to the people who own horses.”
Avioli claims the reserves are there to “protect against catastrophic occurrences that would cause cancellation of the championship event” – such as the kind of equine disease outbreak that shut down Australian racing last year or an earthquake or other natural disaster. Business interruption insurance would cover some, but not all, of a catastrophic event, Avioli said.
“Second, like any organization, you have reserves so that you have security that the organization will continue if unforeseen circumstances arise,” he said. “Say this economy stays down for four or five years and nominations don’t come close to former levels. If you don’t have reserves, what are you doing to do? The question is, what’s the level of the reserves that need to be maintained, and that’s a function of the board of directors.”
Some believe the board has built its cash reserve fund as a defense against the possibility of a boycott by stallion farms or syndicates that could grow unhappy with the direction of the Breeders’ Cup and stop nominating.
The cash reserves are overseen by an Investment Committee chaired by G. Watts Humphrey Jr., a board member who for many years served on the Breeders’ Cup Executive Committee with William S. Farish prior to the 2006 changes in governance that brought some semblance of democracy to the organization. Farish’s son, Bill, has served as chairman of the board since 2006.
The other members of the Investment Committee are Antony Beck, Donald Dizney, Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps, Joseph Shields, and recent appointee Satish Sanan. As board chairman, Bill Farish is automatically on every Breeders’ Cup committee, Avioli said.
Phipps was voted off the board of directors in 2007 and Shields was voted off the board of members and trustees earlier this year. As chairman, Humphrey is authorized to invite anyone he wants, and he appointed Shields and Phipps to the committee. The cash reserves are entrusted to three or four different financial advisers. Contrary to rumors, Phipps’ Bessemer Trust is not one of the groups handling the Breeders’ Cup cash reserves, according to Avioli.
Critics of the Investment Committee complained that scheduled meetings have been cancelled or postponed this year as the cash reserve fund was battered by market volatility and the global financial crisis that hit in September.”Farish and Humphrey do what they want,” one member/trustee told the Paulick Report.
Another member/trustee said the cash reserves should not be looked upon as an emergency or catastrophic fund if a large percentage of it is invested in the stock market. “That’s a long-term investment strategy,” he said, “so it makes no sense to call it an emergency fund if it’s in equities.”
Avioli defended the board’s handling of the cash reserves, even though the Paulick Report learned that at last week’s board meeting the Investment Committee indicated it was likely going to “get out of the equities.”
“Should the money have ever been invested in the stock market?” Avioli said. “If you say ‘no,’ we wouldn’t have had the $40 million to begin with. If you accept that it was in the market and want to see how it was managed in the last 18 months, I’d say it’s done reasonably well compared with other industries. It’s down from $40 million to $30 million, but given these markets that’s not atrocious.”
“I’ll bet a lot of the members and trustees don’t even know there is an Investment Committee,” one member/trustee said when learning of the $10-million-plus in losses. “It’s all part of the cloak and dagger secrecy that some of the people still engage in, even after we went through this new process of electing the board. People like the guys who run this committee do whatever they want with it. They can make all the bad decisions and they don’t think they have to be held accountable.”
Another commented: “There is an unrecognized aristocracy in the United States, and these guys think they are part of the First Family.”
Sikura is disappointed at the message the Breeders’ Cup board’s decision sends out to the industry. “In times like these, people are looking for some reassurance in the business from some of the industry foundations,” he said. “By taking this action, the Breeders’ Cup board failed to provide that reassurance.”
Do you have an opinion on the Breeders’ Cup board’s decision to not use some of its $30 million in cash reserves to make up a projected budget shortfall and instead eliminate the $6 million in purse supplements to the Breeders’ Cup Stakes Program? Take the Daily Paulick Poll on the left-hand column of the Paulick Report homepage or leave your comments in the space provided below.
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Tags: Antony Beck, Bill Farish, Breeders' Cup, Breeders' Cup board of directors, breeders' cup cash reserves, Breeders' Cup Challenge, breeders' cup compensation, breeders' cup investment committee, Breeders' Cup members and trustees, breeders' cup nominations, breeders' cup stakes program, breeders' cup suspends stakes program, Breeders' Cup World Championships, david miller, Dinny Phipps, donald dizney, G. Watts Humphrey, Greg Avioli, hill 'n' dale, John Sikura, Joseph Shields, Ogden Mills Phipps, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, santa anita park, satish sanan, tom evans, trackside farm, Will Farish, William S. Farish, win and you're in Posted in Breeders' Cup, Industry Organizations | 22 Comments »
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
By Ray Paulick
“How do you corral 30,000 horses, having taken them off the range where they lived, and just say ‘night night’?” asked Madeleine Pickens, the animal-loving wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens and better known in Thoroughbred racing circles as the former Madeleine Paulson, who with her late husband, Allen Paulson, developed one of the most successful Thoroughbred breeding and racing operations of the 1980s and ‘90s. Allen Paulson died in 2000, and she remarried in 2005.
In recent years, Madeleine Pickens has spent sleepless nights agonizing over the plight of the American West’s wild mustangs, which have been rounded up and held in pens in increasing numbers over the last eight years by cowboys hired by the federal government’s Bureau of Land Management after complaints from cattlemen that the horses were depleting grazing areas. As federal funding for the wild horses was squeezed and the number of people interested in adopting them declined, BLM officials were faced with an unpleasant option: allow the horses to be sent to slaughterhouses or perform mass euthanasia.
The story of these wild horses – “America’s animal” she calls them – hit Madeleine Pickens’ radar screen at a time when she was putting considerable personal resources of time and money into efforts to end the slaughter of all horses. She studied the issue, then hired a polling company to gauge public opinion on the slaughter of horses for human consumption, finding out that seven in 10 Americans oppose the practice. She then paid for anti-slaughter advertisements in the New York Times, lobbied members of Congress and worked with other groups and individuals. Ultimately, however, those efforts ended in frustration because, she said, the pro-slaughter lobby, assisted by the cattle industry, was simply too entrenched with Washington, D.C., powerbrokers. Anti-slaughter bills passed by the U.S House of Representatives were stopped in the Senate. And she was outraged that so many Thoroughbred industry leaders failed to help.
“I would lay in bed, crying, and say, ‘How can we stop this? What can I do?” she told the Paulick Report. “I’m not a religious person, but a spiritual one, and I swear to God that I prayed for an answer.”
One night, she said, the answer came to her. “Why not buy a ranch and give every horse a home?”
Pickens’ plan for a horse sanctuary would be similar to how cattlemen got access to millions of acres of federal land, she said. “This is how the cattlemen got going,” she said. “They got the BLM land attached to their ranches with sweetheart deals. They pay a very low lease for it, and most aren’t even using the land now.”
Pickens has a private foundation in the formative stages, a key to which will be tax credits for donors, she told the Washington Post. She met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, where half of the wild horses are held. Pickens isn’t prepared to say how much she needs to raise for an endowment to make the plan work, but she is confident she will be able to make it happen. She envisions corporate sponsors, campgrounds and cabins for tourists to come and observe the horses. “There is so much support for this right now,” she said. “It’s amazing the number of calls and emails I’ve received from people who want to help or go to work there.” (Click here to see the official Madeleine Pickens Web site.)
She estimated that she will need upwards of a million acres, and is currently in negotiations on three different properties. She took her plan to BLM officials, who leaked the story to the Washington Post, prematurely, in her opinion. “The story got out way too early while I’m working on the land deal,” she said. “The land people may suddenly say, ‘Ohhh, deep pockets,’ and become unreasonable. I’m trying to be responsible and do the right thing here. I’m very confident that next year this whole thing will be in place.”
Pickens said she felt like someone who’s been trying to walk through quicksand the last couple of years and can’t seem to get out of it. “Nothing was happening, and you can’t believe the idiocy of it all,” she said. “Why do people not get it?”
She grew weary of trying to work for a solution in Congress. “The people in the racehorse industry weren’t on board and we had all those cattlemen against us,” Pickens said. “We really couldn’t win. I give the people who have been fighting this for so long a lot of credit.
“I think this will work because I came up with a private-sector solution rather than trying to put a bill through Washington where politicians could have their way and destroy it. When the bureaucrats do it, it costs too much and doesn’t work. With private individuals, you’re not indebted to every group or compromised by lobbyists.”
Her proposal has been widely applauded, within the BLM and the general public. While her husband, a well-known corporate raider, oilman and philanthropist, has been a highly visible proponent for a plan to make America energy independent, Madeleine Pickens became an overnight celebrity because of her desire to save the horses. The week her plan went public, ABC’s World News Tonight named her “Person of the Week.” Some outside of the horse business remembered her as the heroine (pictured, left) who rescued hundreds of abandoned cats and dogs in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.
“I knew people cared, but I was somewhat stunned at the way this story took off like a wildfire,” she said. “It surprised me, but it really shouldn’t have."
A PLACE FOR EX-RACEHORSES, TOO
Pickens said the ranch will not just be a refuge for wild horses. She wants it to be all inclusive for different breeds, and especially ex-Thoroughbred racehorses that often end up unwanted or sold to killer-buyers who send them off for slaughter in Canada or Mexico. There are no remaining horse slaughterhouses in the United States.
“We’re going to have enough land where I don’t know how we can say no to anything,” she said. “It won’t happen overnight. But I want to give the Thoroughbred industry an opportunity to do something here, and to make people feel that they are being responsible for the animals in their sport. I’m going to ask the industry for their support. It’s going to be difficult for the racing industry to change their way of thinking. With this, I hope they can say they have an exit strategy for their horses.”
Pickens is still angry over the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s refusal to support recent anti-slaughter legislation in Congress. She was one of a large number of major industry participants to sign a letter written by owner-breeder Josephine Abercrombie to members of Congress stating their support of anti-slaughter legislation and their disapproval of the NTRA’s position. “The NTRA had to compromise themselves with Goodlatte (Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte, former chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and now ranking member), who has helped them with gambling legislation but has close ties to the cattle industry,” she said. “By getting behind my proposal, they won’t have to worry about the threat of someone like Goodlatte.”
The Jockey Club is another group that has disappointed Pickens. “They register 35,000 horses a year and they say those horses are worth millions and millions of dollars,” she said. “And they come up with some plan where people can give a few dollars when they register a foal and the Jockey Club says they’ll match up to $200,000 a year. This is the same old b.s. — $200,000 is a peanut. How dare they say this is all they’re going to put into a retirement fund for all the horses who don’t make it. It’s all part of what makes the system not work.
“In every business it’s leadership, and we’ve had horrible leadership in racing. Will Farish (vice chairman of the Jockey Club and owner of Lane’s End Farm, where Pickens retired Grade I winner Rock Hard Ten to stud) can be a good guy. He’s head of this and head of that, and people look up to him. But here’s a man who won’t go against slaughter. Why? Is it because he’s from Houston, where so many of the cattlemen are from?”
Pickens, who said she has withdrawn from the racing business largely because of its inaction on this issue, said she thinks the Thoroughbred industry can learn a great deal from how her proposal has been embraced by the public.
“Racing people can learn that they have a chance to endear the public to them,” she said. “They get a few gamblers here and there, but they are in trouble because they seem to have lost sight of the animal who is the athlete. They have too many fatalities and too many injuries that happen in public on national television. When that happens, it exposes the fact they have no exit strategy for the horses.
“Again, there is no leadership. Those who have been in it for a long time have done nothing to endear people to the business. Now they have an opportunity like the BLM has to try and resolve one of their problems.”
I asked Pickens why she is doing all this, what is driving her to take on a project so big?
She told me of how she emigrated to the United States from Iraq in 1969 because she wanted “to come to a new world and do something with my new country.”
But then she confessed to another reason, something that haunted her when she first learned about the horrors of slaughter: “Maybe it’s because I’m ashamed that I was in the industry for years and never knew there was a slaughterhouse for so many horses at the end of the day. I’m so ashamed I never knew. And people who know about it and aren’t doing anything, they should be ashamed, too.”
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Tags: abc world news tonight, anti-slaughter legislation, blm, bob goodlatte, bureau of land management, harry reid, horse industry, Horse Racing, horse slaughter, Horse Welfare, hurricane katrina, hurricane katrina pet rescue, Jockey Club, Josephine Abercrombie, Lane's End, madeleine paulson, madeleine pickens, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, NTRA, Paulick Report, person of the week, pickens, pickens plan, pro-slaughter, Ray Paulick, rock hard ten, saving wild horses, t. boone pickens, Thoroughbred industry, thoroughbred retirement, wild horse ranch, wild horse refuge, wild horses, wild mustangs, Will Farish, William S. Farish Posted in Horse Slaughter, Horse Welfare, Jockey Club, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, People | 24 Comments »
Monday, December 1st, 2008
A Franklin County, Kentucky, Circuit Court judge has ruled against a proposed sale of a 20% interest in Horse of the Year Curlin to majority owner Jess Jackson for $4 million. The ruling by Judge Roger Crittenden came in a hearing on Monday involving the 20% owned by disbarred attorneys Shirley Cunningham and William Gallion, who have been hit with a $42-million judgment in a civil lawsuit involving the fees they charged clients in a class-action lawsuit against the manufacturer of a diet drug. Cunningham and Gallion also face criminal charges stemming from the case. The ruling against the sale was not based on the judge’s disapproval of the $4-million appraisal on the 20% interest, but because two parties objected to the sale: Gallion and Cunningham’s attorney, Andre Regard; and the attorney for the class-action plaintiffs, Angela Ford. The judge’s decision effectively ends a lengthy legal battle involving Jackson’s Stonestreet Farm’s and Cunningham and Gallion’s Midnight Cry Stable (also doing business as Tandy LLC). Midnight Cry originally owned 100% in Curlin and sold Jackson and two other partners an 80% interest after the son of Smart Strike broke his maiden early in 2007. Jackson eventually bought out the other two partners, Satish Sanan and George Bolton. Regard said his clients were looking forward to being partners in Curlin as he enters his new career at stud at Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Ky., where he will stand for a first-year stud fee of $75,000, payable when the foal stands and nurses. "He’s going to be a very popular horse," Regard said.
The objections of attorneys Regard and Ford were based on the appraisal provided in court by bloodstock consultant Ric Waldman, who testified in November that the current weakened market conditions placed Curlin’s overall value at $20 million as a stallion prospect. A court-ordered receiver arranged for a sealed-bid sale of the 20% through the Keeneland auction company in early November, but when there were no bids, Jackson offered to buy the interest for $4 million. Ford said the receiver had numerous conversations with Stonestreet representatives about the sale but never consulted with her as representative of the plaintiffs. "I think the evaluation is extremely low and I think it’s something we have to contest," she told Crittenden. Richard Getty, attorney for Jackson, told the court that a "bird in the hand — $4 million, which is a million and a half dollars more than I think it’s worth — is better than a bird in the bush. The current market conditions are horrible. … If they are not smart enough to figure out this is a very good deal, given the market conditions, I feel sorry for them. … A year and a half or two years from now this interest may not be worth $4 million." Regard said the court had been told repeatedly by Jackson’s attorney that no stallion farm would stand Curlin as long as Gallion and Cunningham were minority owners. "Lane’s End is the premier stallion farm in the world," Regard said. "Lane’s End was Tandy’s first choice last year, but disagreements between Mr. Jackson and Mr. Farish concerning some other issues in the industry prevented that. … Entering into a contract (with Lane’s End) proves that there were no legal issues related to Tandy’s ownership in Curlin that would prevent him from going to stud. Lane’s End saw no obstacle to standing the horse." Getty said after the ruling he was not aware of any "disagreements" between Jackson and Farish, and also said he was not aware that Jackson was prepared to make any further offers to Gallion and Cunningham for their interest in the horse. Getty pointed out to Crittenden that Lane’s End is receiving a management fee to stand Curlin and that Gallion and Cunningham would be liable for $1 million in expenses between now and April 2010 for management of the horse, insurance premiums and advertising/marketing costs. "Who’s going to pay the $1 million," he asked the judge. He also cited the fact some top race horses, including two-time Horse of the Year Cigar, can be infertile as stallions. "If they want to run the risk of intertility, we can’t help them," Getty said.
Regard responded that Lane’s End’s will be compensated after stud fees are paid. "The largest part of those expenses are going to be paid upon the receipt of the stud fee income," Regard said.
In the end, Crittenden sustained the objections of Ford and Regard to not go forward with the sale of the 20% in Curlin. "If both parties object, then this court does not intend to rule that the receiver accept the offer," Crittenden said. He ruled that the court-ordered receiver will wrap up its role, but be available in the event of any further offers. Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report Visit the Paulick Report for all the latest news throughout the racing world. Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick
Tags: andre regard, Curlin, horse of the year, jess jackson, Lane's End, midnight cry, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, Ric Waldman, richard getty, roger crittenden, shirley cunningham, stonestreet stables, tandy llc, thoroughbred stallions, william gallion, William S. Farish Posted in Breeding, Curlin | 11 Comments »
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
By Ray Paulick
When IEAH Stables bought an interest in 2007 Remsen Stakes winner Court Vision from WinStar Farm earlier this year, the son of Gulch had the look of a Derby horse. He eventually lived up to that billing, though his Grade 1 Derby victory came not on the dirt at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May but on the Hollywood Park turf on the last Sunday in November. Under Ramon Dominguez, who earlier in the day won the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes with Godolphin Racing’s Cocoa Beach, Court Vision made an eye-catching run from last at the top of the stretch to win the Hollywood Derby by three quarters of a length, defeating Cowboy Cal and Midships.
Trained by Bill Mott, Court Vision covered a mile and one-quarter on firm turf in 2:01.43 as the 7-2 second choice in the betting. It was his fifth win in 12 starts and first in a Grade 1 event.
After winning three of four starts as a 2-year-old, Court Vision regressed somewhat on the road to the Triple Crown, finishing third in both the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park and Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. After a disappointing 13th behind IEAH’s Big Brown in the Kentucky Derby, Mott switched the colt to turf, where he finished fourth in the Colonial Turf Cup and an unlucky second, beaten a nose, in the Virginia Derby, both races at Colonial Downs.
Back on dirt in the Travers at Saratoga, Court Vision was never a factor when sixth behind WinStar’s Colonel John, then ended his six-race losing streak with a victory in the Jamaica Handicap on turf at Aqueduct (the first time Dominquez rode him).
Muny set the pace from the outside post position in the Hollywood Derby, going a half mile in :49.41, six furlongs in 1:13.40, and a mile in 1:37.56. Cowboy Cal overtook the frontrunner in midstretch, but didn’t have enough to withstand the fast-finishing Court Vision, who caught him in the final strides. Midships closed well to get third. Based on Court Vision’s position at the one-mile call on the Equibase chart, he flew home his final quarter-mile in about 22 3/5 seconds.
Bred in Kentucky by the W.S. Farish and Kilroy Thoroughbred Partnership, Court Vision was produced from the Storm Bird mare Weekend Storm, a half sister to leading sire A.P. Indy.
Video of the Hollywood Derby.
Earlier in the Hollywood Park Turf Festival program, favored Cocoa Beach rallied in the stretch to catch the front-running second-betting choice Precious Kitten and win the Matriach by three-quarters of a length. Juddmonte Farms’ Visit was third.
Cocoa Beach, second to Zenyatta in her last start, the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic, was trying the grass for the first time since her maiden victory in Chile in January 2007. She was purchased by Godolphin last year and sent to Dubai, where she won two of four starts and was third in the UAE Derby. The 4-year-old daughter of Doneraile Court won her first two American starts, including the Grade 1 Beldame at Belmont Park, before running second in the Breeders’ Cup on the synthetic Pro-Ride track. She is trained by Saeed bin Suroor. Cocoa Beach covered the mile on firm turf in 1:35.49.
Matriarch chart.
Video of the Matriarch.
Video of the Hollywood Turf Festival graded races.
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Tags: Beldame, Big Brown, bill mott, Cocoa Beach, colonel john, court vision, cowboy cal, Doneraile Court, dubai, farish and kilroy, Godolphin, gulch, hollywood derby, IEAH, jamaica handicap, kentucky derby, ladies' classic, matriarch, midships, muny, Paulick Report, precious kitten, ramon dominguez, Ray Paulick, remsen, saeed bin suroor, uae derby, visit, William S. Farish, winstar farm, zenyatta Posted in California, Horse Racing | Comments Off
Monday, November 24th, 2008
By Ray Paulick
The retirement of reigning Horse of the Year Curlin to Lane’s End Farm may be one of the more unusual stallion contracts with which the Versailles, Ky., farm’s owner, William S. Farish, has been involved. Farish said as much in an interview with the Paulick Report, although he would not go into details of the deal that was announced on Nov. 21.
Farish confirmed that Lane’s End did not purchase any interest in the Smart Strike 4-year-old colt, who will stand for $75,000 live foal as the property of Jess Jackson and the Midnight Cry Stable – at least until Midnight Cry’s 20% ownership interest is resolved in a legal battle that goes back to a 2001 diet-drug class-action settlement. The case revolved around the legal fees charged by plaintiff attorneys William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham, among others. The two men, who raced under the Midnight Cry stable and bought Curlin as a yearling for $57,000 in 2005, lost a $42 million judgment in a civil suit and face retrial on criminal charges of mail fraud after a previous trial ended in a hung jury. A third defendant was acquitted.
A court-ordered receiver has been charged with selling Midnight Cry’s 20% interest in Curlin, but the fair market value of the horse is in dispute. At a recent hearing, bloodstock consultant Ric Waldman estimated Curlin’s total value at $20 million, meaning Midnight Cry’s interest is worth $4 million – the amount Jackson and his wife, Barbara Banke, offered to buy it. Andre Regard, an attorney for Midnight Cry, said the figure is too low.
Because of the legal complications, it’s believed Jackson was unable to convey any breeding rights to Lane’s End, a standard part of most stallion contracts that gives the farm standing a horse a minimum of four to six annual breeding rights. In lieu of those rights, the assumption is that Jackson is paying Lane’s End an annual management fee, in addition to standard marketing and board fees. Unless the management fees are linked to Curlin’s stud fee (i.e., they increase if his stud fee increases), Lane’s End will not enjoy the potential upside it would if the farm owned shares or a percentage of the horse, or if the farm received a specific number of annual breeding rights.
Regard said he has requested a copy of the stallion contract from Jackson but has yet to receive it. He suggested the details of the contract could help establish Curlin’s true value. Regard contends that the $20-million appraised value is too low, based on the multiple of 267 times the initial $75,000 stud fee. Some stallions are valued based on a multiple of 400 (or even as high as 500) times the initial stud fee, Regard said.
Farish admitted the negotiations over Curlin were “difficult” because of the legal challenges. That Jackson and Farish ended up business partners on the horse is viewed by some as ironic, in light of Jackson’s crusade to reform the Thoroughbred auction business and his push to have bloodstock agents licensed. It is widely believed the politically-connected Farish used his clout in Kentucky’s legislative circles to restrict reforms and block the mandated licensing of agents.
Curlin was retired following his fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the only time in 16 career starts he finished worse than third. North America’s all-time leading earner, with $10,501,800 won in the United States and Dubai, will make a final public appearance this Saturday at Churchill Downs before joining his sire, Smart Strike, at Lane’s End.
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Tags: andre regard, annual breeding rights, barbara banke, Curlin, fen-phen, jess jackson, Lane's End, midnight cry stable, Ric Waldman, shirley cunningham, smart strike, thoroughbred auction reform, Thoroughbred breeding, thoroughbred stallions, Will Farish, william gallion, William S. Farish Posted in Breeding, Curlin, Stallions | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
By Ray Paulick
Lane’s End Farm is expected to announce that reigning Horse of the Year Curlin will enter stud at the Versailles, Ky., farm in 2009 for a live foal stud fee of $75,000, the Paulick Report has learned. Lane’s End is owned by William S. Farish, vice chairman of the Jockey Club and former ambassador to Great Britain for President George W. Bush.
Jess Jackson owns 80% of the son of Smart Strike—Sherriffs Deputy, by Deputy Minister, with the other 20% owned by the Midnight Cry Stable of disbarred attorneys Shirley Cunningham and William Gallion. That share has been the focus of a complicated legal battle resulting from a $42-million judgment against Cunningham and Gallion in a civil case. The two also face criminal charges.
Jackson and wife Barbara Banke have offered to buy Midnight Cry’s 20% for $4 million, based on an appraisal by bloodstock expert Ric Waldman that set a $20-million fair market value on Curlin. While Curlin may have been insured for an amount in excess of $40 million, Waldman’s appraisal took into account the current global economic crisis and recent trends in the bloodstock market. The just-concluded November breeding stock sale at Keeneland resulted in a 46% decline in gross revenues.
Jackson announced Nov. 15 that Curlin would enter stud in Kentucky in 2009, though he did not name a farm. At the time, he said various offers were being considered, and also indicated Curlin could become the first stallion to stand at the Stonestreet Farms in Lexington that he owns. The late-season announcement, made after matings for many broodmares already have been planned, may also have contributed to Waldman’s appraisal, which Andre Regard, an attorney for Gallion and Cunningham, said was below the horse’s true value.
No decision is expected on the Midnight Cry share of Curlin prior to a Dec. 1 court date in Franklin County, Ky. If a judge rules that the share should be sold to Jackson for $4 million, an appeal could extend the legal battle well into 2009.
It is believed Gainesway Farm was a “finalist” in the bidding for Curlin’s stud services. Jackson owns a large share of dual 2005 Classic winner Afleet Alex, who stands at Gainesway, owned by South African Graham Beck and run by his son, Antony. Jackson and the Beck family are both involved in the wine business, Jackson in California as the owner of Kendall-Jackson vineyards and the Becks primarily in South Africa. Jackson sells many of his horses through Gainesway and Taylor Made Sales Agency, which is also believed to have been a finalist to stand Curlin. Jackson also is part owner of 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, who stands at Adena Springs. It isn’t known whether Adena Springs, owned by Frank Stronach, actively recruited Curlin.
With a fee of $75,000, Curlin would be the highest-priced first-year stallion entering stud in Kentucky in 2009. Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown will stand at Three Chimneys Farm for $65,000, the same amount as Coolmore/Ashford’s multiple European Group 1 winner Henrythenavigator, who finished second to Raven’s Pass in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in which Curlin was fourth.
“Curlin has proven himself across two continents with 16 starts, the honor of 2007 Horse of the Year and the greatest North American money-earner in racing history,” Jackson said in the Nov. 15 announcement that Curlin would enter stud in 2009. “He always gave it his all and has done everything we have asked of him. I am proud to announce that he will start a new career in 2009 and contribute his soundness, stamina, durability and athleticism to the breed. I am looking forward to seeing his foals compete and possibly exceed his unequaled racing record.”
At the time of the announcement, Jackson said he would consider one more race in 2008 for Curlin if “an appropriate venue and purse are offered.” Curlin has been ruled out of the Clark Handicap at Churchill and Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, the two most likely races for him, so it’s extremely doubtful he will run again.
Curlin, who began his career under the care of Helen Pitts and was transferred to trainer Steve Asmussen after breaking his maiden at Gulfstream Park early in 2007, retires with record earnings of $10,501,800. He won 11 of 16 starts, with two seconds and two thirds. He won seven Grade 1 races: the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Dubai World Cup, consecutive runnings of the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Woodward, Preakness and Stephen Foster Handicap. Bred in Kentucky by Fares Farm, he sold for $57,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale. Jackson, Satish Sanan and George Bolton bought at 80% interest in Curlin through bloodstock agent John Moynihan for about $3 million after the colt’s maiden win. Jackson eventually bought Sanan and Bolton’s interests.
Curlin’s sire, Smart Strike, stands at Lane’s End for $150,000. Also joining the 2009 roster at Lane’s End is War Pass, the 2007 2-year-old male champion and winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile who will stand for $30,000 live foal.
Kevin McGee, legal counsel for Jackson’s Kendall-Jackson Vineyards in California, would neither confirm nor deny that a deal with Lane’s End was imminent. Attempts to reach Will Farish were unsuccessful. Bill Farish, son of the Lane’s End owner, said he could not comment on the matter.
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Tags: adena springs, afleet alex, andre regard, ashford, barbara banke, Big Brown, Bill Farish, cigar mile, clark handicap, coolmore, coolmore/ashford, Curlin, dubai world cup, fares farm, Frank Stronach, gainesway, gainesway farm, george bolton, ghostzapper, helen pitts, henrythenavigator, horse of the year, horse of the year curlin, Horse Racing, jess jackson, jockey club gold cup, john moynihan, Keeneland, keeneland november breeding stock sale, kevin mcgee, Lane's End, midnight cry stable, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, Ric Waldman, satish sanan, shirley cunningham, smart strike, steve asmussen, stonestreet farms, taylor made farm, taylor made sales agency, Thoroughbred industry, thoroughbred stallions, war pass, Will Farish, william gallion, William S. Farish Posted in Breeding, Curlin, Horse Racing, Racing Greats, Stallions | 10 Comments »
Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
Phone lines in Central Kentucky have been burning up among the nearly 50 incumbent and newly elected members and trustees of the Breeders’ Cup, who will be responsible for electing seven individuals to the 14 member operating board of directors in Lexington, Ky., on Friday.
Five members of the board — Antony Beck, current board chairman Bill Farish Jr., Terry Finley, R.D. Hubbard and Satish Sanan - are up for re-election, and all five are expected to seek a new two-year term. There are two open positions previously held by Robert Clay and Joseph Shields Jr., who lost re-election bids to the members and trustees board, voting for which was conducted in June among all Breeders’ Cup program nominators. Clay was vice chairman of the Breeders’ Cup board of directors.
John Sikura is the only new name that has surfaced as a "declared" candidate for a board seat, though others will certainly will develop by Friday’s meeting.
In the meantime, numerous phone calls are being made by members of two distinct camps seeking proxies and support in advance of what figures to be a hotly contested election for control of the Breeders’ Cup. In previous elections
Here are the members and trustees listed on the Breeders’ Cup web site or last week’s election results: Josephine Abercrombie, Helen Alexander, John Amerman, Gregory C. Avioli, James E. Bassett III, Antony Beck, Reynolds Bell Jr., Boyd Browning Jr., Doug Cauthen, Alice Chandler, Brownell Combs II, Donald R. Dizney, William S. Farish, William S. Farish Jr., Tracy Farmer, Terrence P. Finley, James E. Friess, Thomas Gaines, Lucy Young Hamilton, L. William Heiligbrodt, R.D. Hubbard, B. Wayne Hughes, G. Watts Humphrey Jr., Roy Jackson, Brereton C. Jones, John T.L. Jones Jr., John T.L. Jones III, Tom Ludt, Wayne G. Lyster III, Robert T. Manfuso, Robert McNair, Clem Murphy, Maria Niarchos-Gouaze, Charles C. Nuckols III, J. Michael O’Farrell Jr., Bill Oppenheim, James A. Philpott Jr., Ogden Mills Phipps, Dan Pride, Don Robinson, Satish K. Sanan, Richard T. Santulli, John G. Sikura, Frank Stronach, Mark Taylor, D.G. Van Clief Jr., Charlotte Weber, Barry Weisbord, and Christopher Young.
By Ray Paulick
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Tags: Alice Chandler, Antony Beck, b. wayne hughes, Barry Weisbord, Bill Oppenheim, Boyd Browning Jr., Breeders' Cup, Breeders' Cup board of directors, Brereton C. Jones, Brownell Combs II, Charles C. Nuckols III, Charlotte Weber, Christopher Young, Clem Murphy, D.G. Van Clief Jr., Dan Pride, Don Robinson, Donald R. Dizney, Doug Cauthen, Frank Stronach, g. watts humphrey jr., Gregory C. Avioli, Helen Alexander, J. Michael O'Farrell Jr., James A. Philpott Jr., James E. Bassett III, James E. Friess, John Amerman, John G. Sikura, John T.L. Jones III, John T.L. Jones Jr., Josephine Abercrombie, L. William Heiligbrodt, Lucy Young Hamilton, Maria Niarchos-Gouaze, Mark Taylor, Ogden Mills Phipps, Paulick Report, R.D. Hubbard, Ray Paulick, reynolds bell jr., Richard T. Santulli, Robert McNair, Robert T. Manfuso, Roy Jackson, Satish K. Sanan, Terrence P. Finley, Thomas Gaines, tom ludt, tracy farmer, Wayne G. Lyster III, William S. Farish, William S. Farish Jr. Posted in Breeders' Cup | Comments Off
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