I look at the federal legislation as the “stick.” Let it create the framework that will enable us to create the national conmmissioner’s office whereby all 38 racing jurisdictions own commissions must, for lack of a better word, “report” and be held accountable. Doing it ourselves is out of the question. Too many divergent fifedoms, egos and long standing power struggles. I’m fine letting the feds “make” us do it or else.

In regards to #1. I was not aware of the ruling on Fink vs. Cole, but it seems to me that any attempt at establishing jurisdiction without Federal permission would fail because someone would contest it in the courts. How would a National Commissioner be any different than the Jockey Club?

In one respect it is wonderful to see the “silent majority/minority” attempt to have a voice! And it is wonderful to read the random statements of “good intentions”. BUT, there is a way to intelligently bring this crisis to cloture in a “win/win” for our sport and industry! The remaining alphabet groups can and will if pressed, to produce a list of 25,000 names! And if we want to reduce the NA racing to weekends only, it can be done, with great reluctance. But it doesn’t have to conclude in this fashion.
Firstly, at the root of the problem is the fact that the the problem crosses class and economic lines, whether we like it or not! If we chose to use facts rather than innuendo, we could determine that allowing racing to trend to 80% claiming races and above, we effect the NHBPA constituency primarily. And that is a problem that lays squarely in the court of the racecourses and their policy makers. So we do have a dichotomy involving the responsible and the irresponsible that should not have occurred in the first place! But who’s who? The sides are easily determined. More work needs to be done before we race to extinction! It can be done and the solution is in intelligent leadership!
“Racing already has problems with short fields. Won’t this make things worse?
It hasn’t made them smaller in the rest of the world. Results speak for themselves.”
This Q & A, in itself speaks volumes as to the misunderstandings of our current operational dilemmas! We need to understand before act! Please!

I do not see how you can create a “Commissioner’s office” without federal legislation. Each State has its own racing commission (political hack jobs) and they will not let go of their power, unless their is Federal involvement forcing each jurisdiction to comply.

Don’t the breeders have some responsibility for the lesser hardihood of the current American horse? They’ve bred horses who made fewer than 10 career starts to mares of similar records. Then sold the offspring at big prices. And they wonder why the product is weak?
I look forward to the day when the European purists come to the Breeders’ Cup and run all of their horses without lasix/salix. Fat chance.
Oh, by the way, will Animal Kingdom run without salix in the Belmont? Another fat chance.

#6 by Bob Hope – “BUT, there is a way to intelligently bring this crisis to cloture in a “win/win” for our sport and industry!” AND OUR HORSES.

Not including horse welfare as part of your discussion will ultimately be a losing argument, both for people of the backside, owners and especially the general public. WE MUST UNDERSTAND that their needs to be a “win/win/win” situation using your analogy: sport, industry and most of all, the thoroughbred that makes this all possible.

“Highgunner – The voice for the “Unwanted Thoroughbred”

If the Act only prohibits race-day medication, but allows training on pharmaceuticals, how will that eliminate “raising and selling a fragile, chemical horse dependent upon pharmaceuticals”?

I am all for the much needed clean- up of racing Why not do as the Argentinians did by eliminating drugs for 2yr.old in racing. This way it would be kinder to the now addicted horse and in 5years we would have started a drug free race day. It is my hope that drugs that have been over used possibly not being effective anymore will be eliminated from the miss use of careless hands. On the tails of the drug problem comes the racedoms which need to take off their gloves and pull up a chair at a round table and for gosh sakes get it right. Let’s share not compete. One weekend a stake at one track then the next weekend at another track etc., cooperation would also make this sport all the richer.as stated,I am an old bag and racing was not too long ago a very beautiful,classy sport. Let’s save it now!!!

“We fear that racing is rapidly becoming a socially unacceptable sport because of performance-enhancing drugs”

It’s not just “performance-enhancing drugs” that are turning people away from the industry. The cheats(and there are many) must all go too. The greed of breeding, breeding, breeding must end, and instead, the equine athlete needs to remain on the track and in the public eye for longer then twelve months. Lasting rivalries need to return to the sport.

Also the industry does not support Americans with job opportunities(preferring today’s modern-day cheap labour from south of the border), yet, the industry expects Americans to support the sport.

Too many tracks is a problem. And forcing horses to race on hard, lightning fast surfaces just to wooooow the crowd and see records fall on big race days is another mistake.

We can have just as big a list of people who don’t agree with this line of thought. As soon as they use the 1950′s vs now statistic there knowledge of the subject becomes suspect. Everyone wants racing to prosper and the horses to be safe.One commissioner is going to tell all tracks what days you race,what months you race,and even what time you race? Are you kidding? This whole concept that U.S. racing is so different than european etc racing in regards to drug use is foolish.They have levels which arn’t a positive we have many zero tolerance states.We are often stricter than they are.Regardless of you views this poorly written bill needs much scrutany.

#21 I Davis asks:
“Aren’t you folks forgetting that “the rest of the world EAT horse meat?? Therefore, they can breed however many they need for the tracks, and the ‘losers’ get eaten..”

I’m afraid YOU are the one either forgetful or (to be polite here) “unaware” because horses they are eating are OUR Thoroughbred racehorses — taken from over 100 racetracks in the United States or aged broodmares taken from farms, run through the nearest auction, some still wearing their racing plates, and hauled in double decker transports to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. According to the only available information from the USDA through a Freedom of Information Act request, it is an amount that is equal to 60% of the annual Thoroughbred foal crop. The slaughter and shipment of our racehorses has been well documented via undercover investigation by no less than HBO and Patricia Hogan, DVM wrote an article about this deplorable treatment of our racing athletes some time ago in The Blood-Horse.

Regarding your closing comments, you seem to have also forgotten (or did not find it important enough to read or listen to?) the testimony given on June 19, 2008 before a Congressional subcommittee on drugs and racing. One thing everyone was clear on: No entity in racing has the power to enforce any change. There is NO leadership in racing. Enforcement must be through the Interstate Horseracing Act.

For all who oppose these bills, take a look at a direct quote from the website of the British Horseracing Authority and ask yourself why we are not testing our racehorses in TRAINING too.

http://www.britishhorseracing.com/resources/equine-science-and-welfare/dope-testing.asp

“Testing in Training
“While a horse’s performance in a race could be affected by drugs administered in the immediate pre-race period, and detectable in a post-race sample, it is widely acknowledged in all sports that athletic performance can also be influenced by the administration of drugs during training. There are substances that may influence an athlete’s preparation and performance, but are undetectable on the day.

“We have no reason to believe that illegal performance-enhancing techniques are used in the training of British racehorses, but we do believe that it is vital that both the racing and betting public are reassured that this is the case. For this reason, we have routinely tested horses in training since January 1998 and from February 2002 the tests have been carried out following unannounced visits, averaging one trainer per month.”

#17 by Bob Hope “We cannot appropriate as a welfare state….”

I agree. Traditional rescue provides no solutions to our current “Disposable Thoroughbred” model of training horses for the track. In fact, rescue organizations are enablers because they become the dumping grounds for those responsible for creating the rescue. – the more we take in as a rescue community, the more they can dump their horses on us. As the TRF discovered, managing large numbers of retired and aging TBs is a daunting task. We must strive to create “Wanted Thoroughbreds”, as they were decades ago, so we can decrease the number of rescues. No welfare state, just a “multi-career” training model that gives our horses skills to be successful in racing and other careers. This is Solution-Based rescue and is designed to “Prevent Unwanted Thoroughbred”

@Highgunner – The voice for the “Unwanted Thoroughbred”

The British don’t eat horse meat, don’t race on legal race day medications, do have an extensive race horse retirement network, and do worry about it – a lot. The BHA(?) commissioned a study to determine the outcomes of every flat race horse retiring in 2006 for example. My sense from the available statistics is that British racehorses fare better on average than American ones do post racing i.e. a smaller percentage of them are eaten in export markets.

Move along folks. There are plenty of other nice grassy knolls out there.

Every State should have there own medication rules. California does not have slots. They should allow lasix and bute and watch all those people on that list run their horses in Ca. for the big pots.

Rest is good for the horse. Racing without pain killers and performance enabling substances is good for the horse. There you go Ratherrapid.

People and businesses spent lifetimes trying to avoid Govt intervention. So, you know its bad when we’re begging them to take us over.

Right on, #32…remember Ronald Regan’s warning…the worse is yet to come when you hear “I’m from the Govt and I’m here to help!”

#22: Yes, I do realize the U.S. is guilty of shipping horses out of the country to be slaughered and eaten by Europeans, etc. You obviously didn’t get one of the points I was trying to make…that in Europe, Asia and other countries, they don’t drug the horses so much so they can sell them for food when they no longer are of value on the tracks. With regard to the hearings in Congress,this was all brought on by the tragedy of Eight Belles on Derby Day….a horse that had not been drugged, buty had taken a bad step which is one of the things we hate about the sport, but which happens in this sport….and all the ugly rumors surrounding this tragic incident brought about an early retirement of a great trainer, Larry Jones, and lots of grief for him, his family and jockey. Fortunatley, enough time has passed and Larry is back in the game. This is just another example of the damage caused by PETA, congress, and others with their inuendos and untruths…the liberal, biased media is alive and well! PETA was out in full force and convinced congress to take action. Unfortunately, we live in a nanny state. We can’t take responsibility for our own actions…we need the feds to intervene on every little thing; and that is why this country is in such a sorry state of affairs…we have the blind leading the blind. Leadership is non-existent or a rare find, and everyone is looking for a hand-out…it’s deplorable…and whatever happened to common sense solutions…….sad, but comone sense is very uncommon as we all can see by just reading these posts. The industry should not be going to the fed govt for help….it can be done from within w/the proper leadership…with those who have perseverance, and a fire in their gut to bring the Thoroughbred industry back to where it was some years ago….the “sport of kings”! We LOVE our Thoroughbreds, and we give to charities such as the Barbaro Fund at the New Bolton Clinic in PA, TRF, and other such organizations who are there to help, support and improve the industry. It’s all about the horse, and some get it, and some don’t, unfortunately.

and #26, I never accused the British of eating horse meat nor was this about how the Britsh treat their Thoroughbreds. The American Revolution was won by Americans, Ms. Caroline, and not the British, so there’s no need to continue to be on the defense.