The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act: Review, analysis and concern

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THE HORSERACING INTEGRITY AND SAFETY ACT: REVIEW, ANALYSIS AND CONCERNBy Peter J. SacopulosFor nearly a decade there has been an effort to have national legislation that governs Thoroughbred horse racing. The first major effort began in 2011, when the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act of 2011—an attempt to amend the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act of 1978—was introduced by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM). This bill was not successful. Another effort was advanced when, in 2015, Representative Andy Barr (R-KY) and Representative Paul Tonko (D-NY) introduced the Thoroughbred Horseracing Integrity Act. That same year, Representative Joe Pitt (R-PA) introduced the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (the first HISA). It too failed to pass. Fast forward to 2020: the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act is introduced by Representatives Barr and Tonko and passes in the U.S. House of Representatives on September 29, 2020. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) then introduced corresponding legislation in the Senate that was approved. On December 28, 2020, President Trump signed into law a government funding bill and COVID-relief package. Tucked away into this massive omnibus bill was the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA).Since that time, there has been considerable reporting on HISA. Several issues have dominated the discussion of this new legislation. Those include the elimination of furosemide (also known as Lasix) on race day in two-year-olds and Stakes Thoroughbreds for the first three (3) years and, ultimately, in all Thoroughbreds after that. A second issue receiving attention is how the new federal bill that places the United States Anti-Doping Association (USADA) at the head of the recently established Horse Racing Anti-Doping and Medication Control Authority will be funded. Additionally, there has been and continues to be discussion of whether the HISA, which presently only governs Thoroughbred racing, will ultimately include both Standardbred and Quarter Horse racing, as well. However, there is a section of the HISA that is critically important to those in the Thoroughbred industry that has received limited discussion. That is Section 1209 of the HISA. For three primary reasons, Section 1209 of HISA is of particular concern for horsemen. First, it truncates the horsemen’s constitutionally protected right to due process. Second, instead of replacing the state system(s) of regulatory enforcement, the HISA creates a second system of review and enforcement for alleged medication and track safety violations that results in both additional expense and redundancy. Finally, the HISA, as presented, guarantees a multitude of constitutional challenges. Section 1209 of HISA entitled “Review of Final Decisions of the Authority” outlines the disciplinary process. Under the current systems, when a licensee elects to contest an alleged medication or safety violation, the dispute proceeds through an administrative law process followed by a judicial process. Specifically, in most jurisdictions, the licensee accused of violating a medication or safety rule or regulation is first provided the opportunity to present a defense/response to the Stewards at a Stewards’ hearing. If the Stewards’ ruling is not favorable to the licensee, he or she may appeal that decision. The appeal of the Stewards’ ruling is typically conducted by a state regulatory appointed administrative law judge (ALJ). The ALJ conducts a hearing on the merits and, in doing so, receives testimony and evidence from both the horseman/woman and the Commission. This is referred to as a merits hearing. At the conclusion of the merits hearing, the ALJ issues findings of fact, conclusions of law and a recommendation for a penalty or for no penalty. Either party may then appeal the decision/recommendation of the ALJ to the state commission for final administrative review. The ruling of the state commission, which in most jurisdictions constitutes the final stage of the administrative process, may also be timely appealed. It is at this juncture that the resolution process shifts from an administrative proceeding to a judicial proceeding via the filing of a petition for judicial review. Section 1209 of the HISA presents a departure from the current state regulatory system.The process for hearing and review set forth in Section 1209 of the HISA begins with the “Authority.” The HISA defines the Authority as a private, independent and self-regulated non-profit corporation, comprised of nine members. When a medication or safety violation is identified by the Authority, an investigation commences. If the Authority concludes a violation has occurred, then the Authority determines sanctions and, in doing so, files notice of the sanctions with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It is unclear whether these nine members will sit in judgment as “the Authority” for the initial stage of an alleged violation or whether a sub-committee of the Authority will do so. Section 1209 is also unclear as to whether the proceeding before the Authority is a hearing on the merits or not. This is critical to the horsemen because such a hearing establishes the record of the proceedings should the matter be appealed. What is clear is that the Authority replaces the current Stewards’ hearing in the present context of state commission proceedings. Section 1209 of the HISA does provide for the right to appeal a noticed civil sanction by the Authority. Within 30 days of the notice of sanction being filed by the Authority with the FTC, the sanctioned party may file an Application for Review of the Authority’s decision. If an appeal is taken, the dispute is submitted to an ALJ. Pursuant to Section 1208 of the HISA, the ALJs are to be “impartial hearing officers,” although the HISA ALJs appear to be employees or agents of the FTC. This is significant to horsemen because the ALJ that conducts the merit hearing and rules on the admissibility of evidence and testimony, and ultimately issues findings of fact, conclusions of law, and a recommended penalty, will apparently be an employee of the FTC. In short, one side selects, appoints and pays the ALJ. That side is not the horsemen but rather the FTC. Considering the great lengths to which the HISA defines and prohibits “Conflicts of Interest” this makes this provision difficult, at best, to square with legislation that contains a specific “Conflict of Interest” provision, that being Section 3(E) of the HISA.If either party is dissatisfied with the ALJ’s decision, they may then file an Application for Review with the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC may accept or \deny the application for review (appeal). This is significant. Should the Commission refuse an application for review, then the ALJ’s decision shall constitute the final decision of the Commission without further proceedings and may then be appealed to a federal court of law. Should the FTC accept an Application for Review and issue a ruling in connection with that application, that ruling constitutes a final ruling and is appealable. Whether the Application for Review is rejected by the FTC or, alternatively, accepted by the FTC and ruled upon adversely to the licensee, there is a right to a timely appeal to the United States Court of Appeals. Title 5, Chapter 7 of the United States Code provides for judicial review of agency action. Similar to a party petitioning for judicial review of a state agency’s decision before a state court, 5 USC § 702 entitled “Right of Review” provides that: “a person suffering legal wrong because of agency action, or adversely affected or aggrieved by agency action within the meaning of a relevant statute, is entitled to judicial review thereof….” See 5 USC §702. The scope of review, set forth in 5 USC § 706, is also similar to a petition for judicial review before a state court. This means the federal court will not retry the case on the merits. Instead, as is the case in most state court proceedings involving a petition seeking review of an agency’s final order, the federal court’s authority in reviewing a final order of the FTC is limited to: “…(1) compel agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed; and (2) hold unlawful and set aside agency action, findings, and conclusions to be found to be- (A) arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law; (B) contrary to constitutional right, power, privilege, or immunity;(C) in excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority, or limitations, or short of statutory right; (D) without observance of procedure required by law;(E) unsupported by substantial evidence in a case subject to sections 556 and 557 of this title…or otherwise reviewed on the record of an agency hearing provided by statute; or(F) unwarranted by the facts to the extent that the facts are subject to trial de novo by the reviewing court….”Also similar to state court proceedings, parties subject to a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals have the right to timely appeal. The court of last resort and final forum for appeal from an adverse decision issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals is the United States Supreme Court. Section 1209 of the HISA is of further concern to horsemen because it will result in additional expense and creates a redundancy regarding the review process. The HISA provides that the Authority will sit in review of alleged medication and track safety violations. However, non-medication and non-track safety violations will continue to be regulated, reviewed and enforced by state regulators/agencies. In short, there will be two paralleling systems. Proceedings before the Authority will be governed by the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Federal Trade Commission Regulations, the Administrative Procedures Act, and the Federal Rules of Evidence. If the licensee or “Covered Persons” is also accused of a non-medication or non-track safety violation, contemporaneous with a matter before the Authority, then that review process will proceed before a state agency and be governed by state administrative regulation, state rules of evidence and state regulatory rules. Therefore, a Thoroughbred trainer facing both medication violations and non-medication/non-track safety violations will be forced to navigate two paralleling disciplinary systems resulting in redundancy and additional expense to all involved. Further, these two paralleling systems of litigation may occur in different states. For example, the non-medication and non-track safety violations will be addressed by state regulators in the state in which the violation occurred. Medication and/or track safety violations will initially be heard by the Authority, likely in a different state. An initial Application for Review by an FTC-appointed ALJ, and a subsequent Application for Review may well be held at its offices in Washington, D.C. Further application for review will be heard before one of the 11 U.S. District Court of Appeals, more likely than not located in a state other than where the alleged violation occurred and, should there be a final appeal, that would occur before the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. In summary, and to be clear, the HISA does not replace the entire review and enforcement function of the state commission. It does so only with regard to medication and track safety issues.The HISA is guaranteed to face multiple constitutional challenges by covered persons, horsemen associations, as well as constitutional “watchdog” groups. These are four anticipated constitutional challenges. First, that the HISA violates the Non-Delegation Doctrine of the United States Constitution. The Non-Delegation Doctrine provides that Congress is prevented from delegating legislative authority to any other entity. Second, that HISA violates the Appointment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Appointment Clause requires that appointments to public agencies be made only by the Executive Branch as set forth in Article II of the Constitution. Third, that HISA violates rules prohibiting Anti-Commandeering. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that Congress “may not issue direct orders to the governments of the states.” Congress may not commandeer the State’s offices or those of their political subdivisions to administer or enforce a federal regulatory program.The fourth anticipated constitutional challenge involves the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The fourteenth amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees both procedural and substantive due process. Procedural due process requires the right to reasonable notice and an opportunity to be heard at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner. Substantive due process requires that there must be a rational relationship between a legitimate governmental purpose of a regulation (such as protecting the integrity of racing) and the means chosen for that desired end (the rules governing racing). The licensee/protected person’s due process rights, under the HISA, are at best, truncated. This is because the allegation of a medication and/or safety violation will be heard, on the merits, by an ALJ that is an employee, selected by, appointed by and paid by the overseeing regulatory agency—that being the FTC. Further, very, very few of those participating in horse racing will have the appetite or resources to appeal an ALJ’s findings of fact, conclusions of law and recommended order (assuming the FTC declines review) to a U.S. Court of Appeals. This is because such a legal proceeding costs thousands and thousands of dollars in fees. In short, due process is effectively eliminated by Section 1209, and the licensee/covered person is left with the “choice” of “take the deal” offered by the regulators. Additionally, the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution prohibits an economically self-interested private actor from wielding regulatory power over private parties. The first constitutional challenge to the HISA which seeks declaratory and injunctive relief was filed on March 15, 2021, less than 100 days after the HISA was signed into law, a group of representative associations formally challenged the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act. The party plaintiffs include the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) and its affiliate organizations in Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Also joining in as a plaintiff is the Mountaineer Park Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. This cause of action names as defendants the seven members of the Nominating Committee for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, those being Jerry Black, Katrina Adams, Leonard Coleman, Jr., Nancy Cox, Joseph Dunford, Frank Keating, and Kenneth Schanzer. Also named as defendants are the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, Inc, the FTC, the Acting Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, and the three Federal Trade Commissioners. This claim has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The plaintiffs seek an order declaring that the HISA delegates legislative authority to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act Authority in violation of the Non-Delegation Doctrine and that the HISA violates the Appointment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Further, their action seeks a ruling and finding that the HISA violates the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution because it provides the economically self-interested actors the power to regulate their competitors. Finally, the plaintiffs, by way of their complaint, seek a court order enjoining or prohibiting the defendants from taking any action to implement the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020. The HISA, should it survive anticipated constitutional challenges, will have a major impact on those in the horse racing industry. Stay tuned. It is likely that HISA will remain a centerpiece of discussion and debate in our industry for the next several years.

By Peter J. Sacopulos

For nearly a decade there has been an effort to have national legislation that governs Thoroughbred horse racing. The first major effort began in 2011, when the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act of 2011—an attempt to amend the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act of 1978—was introduced by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM). This bill was not successful. Another effort was advanced when, in 2015, Representative Andy Barr (R-KY) and Representative Paul Tonko (D-NY) introduced the Thoroughbred Horseracing Integrity Act. That same year, Representative Joe Pitt (R-PA) introduced the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (the first HISA). It too failed to pass.

Fast forward to 2020: the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act is introduced by Representatives Barr and Tonko and passes in the U.S. House of Representatives on September 29, 2020. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) then introduced corresponding legislation in the Senate that was approved.

Senator Mitch McConnell and member groups representing the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act meet at Keeneland, August 2020.

Senator Mitch McConnell and member groups representing the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act meet at Keeneland, August 2020.

On December 28, 2020, President Trump signed into law a government funding bill and COVID-relief package. Tucked away into this massive omnibus bill was the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA). Since that time, there has been considerable reporting on HISA. Several issues have dominated the discussion of this new legislation. Those include the elimination of furosemide (also known as Lasix) on race day in two-year-olds and Stakes Thoroughbreds for the first three (3) years and, ultimately, in all Thoroughbreds after that.

President Donald J. Trump signs the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 which included the incorporation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, December 2020.

President Donald J. Trump signs the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 which included the incorporation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, December 2020.

A second issue receiving attention is how the new federal bill that places the United States Anti-Doping Association (USADA) at the head of the recently established Horse Racing Anti-Doping and Medication Control Authority will be funded. Additionally, there has been and continues to be discussion of whether the HISA, which presently only governs Thoroughbred racing, will ultimately include both Standardbred and Quarter Horse racing, as well. However, there is a section of the HISA that is critically important to those in the Thoroughbred industry that has received limited discussion. That is Section 1209 of the HISA. For three primary reasons, Section 1209 of HISA is of particular concern for horsemen. First, it truncates the horsemen’s constitutionally protected right to due process. Second, instead of replacing the state system(s) of regulatory enforcement, the HISA creates a second system of review and enforcement for alleged medication and track safety violations that results in both additional expense and redundancy. Finally, the HISA, as presented, guarantees a multitude of constitutional challenges. Section 1209 of HISA entitled “Review of Final Decisions of the Authority” outlines the disciplinary process. Under the current systems, when a licensee elects to contest an alleged medication or safety violation, the dispute proceeds through an administrative law process followed by a judicial process. ….

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Safer racetracks - We look at the measures taken by The Fair Grounds and Santa Anita took action to make their main tracks safer

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"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…" so wrote Charles Dickens. For horse racing in 2020, it just wasn't where you would expect the best and worst, at least in a modern-day "Tale of Two Racetracks."To wit: Santa Anita began 2020 in the wake of a nightmare: 20 racing fatalities in 2019. The Fair Grounds in New Orleans, on the other hand, was on the cusp of two straight Januarys without a racetrack fatality. If you don't know the rest, you can probably guess what happened, 2020 being 2020: Santa Anita embarked on a record year in 2020 with zero fatalities on the dirt track and one less fatality in turf races than in 2019 [see sidebar]. Meanwhile, at the Fair Grounds—long known as having one of the best surfaces in America—six racetrack fatalities occurred in January, a number more than double the average for this month. Instantly, media attention focused on the Fair Grounds, interest made more acute, perhaps, by the highly publicized spate of fatalities at Santa Anita.Overlooked by a large portion of the media (perhaps conveniently, some would say) is the anomaly that January 2020 represented, not just for the Fair Grounds but also for Thoroughbred racing in America. In terms of catastrophic injury rate, the sport enjoyed the smallest rate of fatalities per 1,000 starts—1.53—in 2019. The Jockey Club created an Equine Injury Database (EID) in 2009, recording statistics and specifically compiling data from 14 leading tracks (including Santa Anita). In that first year, fatalities were 2.0 per 1,000 starts—the highest in the span of the 11-year-old EID. So what happened at the Fair Grounds? Dr. Michael "Mick" Peterson, executive director of the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory, led a team of track management and, perhaps more critical, trainers with horses at the Fair Grounds to examine and analyze the track surface, particularly maintenance practices. Fatalities are multifactorial, and the intent was to address potential issues with the track surface. According to Peterson, unexpected and unpredicted rainfall during training hours occurred in January. Making matters worse, the rain—while amounting to maybe a half to three-quarters of an inch—fell for 45 minutes to an hour. Harrowed before training, the track surface was "open," as Peterson termed it, enabling water to penetrate the surface rather than run off. The result was a surface possibly over-saturated and potentially ripe for injuries and fatalities during races in the afternoon. Closing the door to this possibility meant closing the track if rain was expected or did fall during training and sealing or "floating it," which produces a flat surface for water to run off into the infield. If that sounds simple, it isn't. There are dozens of trainers with stalls full of horses each needing track time, either for leg-stretching gallops or, more importantly, workouts timed out a certain number of days before an upcoming race. Racehorses are athletes who absolutely have to get out of their stalls, and there are no days off. Weather can’t be a deterrent; they run in the rain, and they train in the rain. Stopping training to float and seal a racetrack—something commonly done between afternoon races—is uncommon during training hours and disruptive to trainers’ schedules. Simply put, trainers lose a hunk of training time if the track superintendent floats the surface during workout hours in the morning. Here is where, according to Peterson, the Fair Grounds achieved real success. A group of trainers met with Fair Grounds track manager Jason Boulet, track superintendent Pedro Zavala, and Peterson and basically said, "We're going to have to do that then," referring to track closure during training for surface sealing.For Peterson, Boulet and especially Zavala, this response from trainers with entries, races slated, and owners to whom they are accountable was as jaw-dropping as Santa Anita's zero dirt-track fatality statistic in 2020."It really was one of those perfect moments in interaction between track management and superintendent and trainers," said Peterson, who added, "It's hard to get up in the morning and not know which horses you can train. I was thoroughly impressed with the willingness of trainers to do that." Their only request was as much of a heads-up as possible to trainers if weather radar indicated rain looked likely. Track closure during training for floating was an option left on the table. It was part of “give and take,” as Peterson termed it, to enable trainers to send out horses needing a workout for an upcoming race ahead of a wet track. "If I'm a trainer, I know that I might lose the second half of training because they're going to shut it down and run the floats. Then I can train whatever horses I know I need to get out there in the first set."This is where the industry needs to go—the communication, being reasonable, recognizing the need for give and take at times."The cooperation of trainers at the Fair Grounds should not have been a surprise, given the history at the track. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 provides an anecdote that is very telling about the input of trainers into track conditions and management at this third oldest American racetrack.Katrina flooded the Fair Grounds and washed away the track surface. What replaced it was not nearly as good as pre-Katrina, according to regular Fair Grounds trainers. A group of them, principal among them Al Stall, provided a simple observation: "It was better with the darker sand," said Stall at the time, referring to reddish sand in the pre-Katrina surface.Peterson remembered Boulet calling him to report that trainers were convinced darker spillway sand from the nearby Mississippi River would bring the track back to what it was. "Jason said, 'I think they're crazy. I don't think the color matters,'" recalled Peterson with a laugh. "I said, ‘Jason what they are actually identifying is the little bit of iron oxide in the sand. It's hydrophilic and not hydrophobic, and you know what? I bet they're exactly right.’"In lay terms, hydrophilic means moisture-absorbing and not moisture-resistant (hydrophobic). Stall not only knew what the post-Katrina surface needed but where to find it. The New Orleans native drove Peterson and Boulet to different sand pits in the area, collecting samples of red sand. Peterson took it from there with something called X-ray diffraction testing to identify which source would be best.Sand, however, is far from the only reason for a Fair Grounds surface that was, arguably, the best and safest in America before last January. It is one part of many measures, initiatives and improvements implemented since the "Al Stall tour." And in what may be a shock to many in the media and public, those same measures are in place at other major U.S. racetracks. All account for the continuing decline in racetrack fatalities as recorded by The Jockey Club.The origin of the efforts was a safety initiative launched by Churchill Downs Incorporated in the wake of the breakdowns of Barbaro (2006) and then Eight Belles (2008) in Triple Crown races, according to Peterson. The initiative led to protocols for testing surface samples. At the Fair Grounds each year, testing takes place six weeks before the racing meet starts on Thanksgiving Day—the traditional opening day. "If the composition isn't right, by then we already have the material on-site to match target standards. Then what happens a few weeks before the race meet is we come in with ground-penetrating radar—the biomechanical surface tester—and go through every piece of equipment and test," said Peterson, who doubles as a professor of biosystems and agricultural engineering at the University of Kentucky. If the depth, literally and figuratively, of surface preparation and management is a surprise, a bigger one might be that 13 other leading tracks in America—again, including Santa Anita--perform the same testing to certify optimum track-surface composition. Separate from composition testing before a race meet is daily implementation of a Maintenance Quality System (MQS) with a breadth that is mind boggling. The Fair Grounds’ Zavala, as well as superintendents at the 13 other tracks, chart training times of all horses by workout length, make daily surface-depth or "cushion" measurements at as many as 16 different places on the racetrack and take moisture readings at 18 different spots. Data required in the MQS even calls for logging the speed of the tractors pulling harrows over the track and the direction they travel. The latest addition to the MQS arsenal for Peterson and racing is a new type of weather station that debuted at Keeneland during the fall meet and Breeders' Cup. It supplements daily reports summarizing data from the previous 24 hours of weather with improved real-time data. The objective is to counteract the effects of rapidly changing weather conditions like that experienced at the Fair Grounds last January. The benefits go beyond morning training with updates at, "say, the third race of a race day to enable adjustment for the fifth race by surface crews," said Peterson.The coronavirus, Peterson said, was a barrier to the expansion of MQS to new tracks but not expansion within racetracks already on board with the system. The new weather station is but one example. There is also a new integrated track tester that measures everything from all-important moisture content to something called dielectric constant. It provides improved real-time data to track superintendents on conditions at their specific track through a GPS.Can racing, through track surface improvements, continue to reduce catastrophic racetrack injuries beyond the 16% reduction over the last decade? Peterson is hopeful. "The endpoint I see on this is having in place a process for what they call in manufacturing continuous improvement where we don't just quit when we get a little better."The latest recorded racing fatality rate, again, represents the "best of times." With lessons learned at the Fair Grounds, protocols in the MQS and technology improvements in testing, there is potential that the best can become even better.[SIDEBAR"]A December 16, 2020, story in the Los Angeles Times attributed a reduction in the fatality statistics at Santa Anita Park in 2020 to a "combination of enhanced safety protocols and less racing because of shutdowns caused by the coronavirus.” The story added that "nearby fires could be considered factors [and track closures as a result] in cutting the death count by more than half."Here are the facts: 20 racing fatalities occurred at Santa Anita in 2019—13 on the dirt track and seven on the turf tracks--in 6,650 starts. In 2020, which saw 5,050 starters go to the post at Santa Anita, there were no fatalities on the dirt track and six on the turf surfaces. Averaging race fatalities for the number of starts per 1,000 starters, Santa Anita averaged .12 racing fatalities in 2020 and 3.01 in 2019. Averaging removes track closures due to COVID-19 and fires as criteria for the decrease. Also, the "death count" was reduced not by "more than half" but by almost two-thirds in racing fatalities in 2020 as compared to 2019. The numbers are conclusive: Safety protocols—and safety protocols alone—account for the reduction.

By Ken Snyder

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…" so wrote Charles Dickens. For horse racing in 2020, it just wasn't where you would expect the best and worst, at least in a modern-day "Tale of Two Racetracks."

To wit: Santa Anita began 2020 in the wake of a nightmare: 20 racing fatalities in 2019. The Fair Grounds in New Orleans, on the other hand, was on the cusp of two straight Januarys without a racetrack fatality. If you don't know the rest, you can probably guess what happened, 2020 being 2020: Santa Anita embarked on a record year in 2020 with zero fatalities on the dirt track and one less fatality in turf races than in 2019 [see sidebar]. Meanwhile, at the Fair Grounds—long known as having one of the best surfaces in America—six racetrack fatalities occurred in January, a number more than double the average for this month.

Instantly, media attention focused on the Fair Grounds, interest made more acute, perhaps, by the highly publicized spate of fatalities at Santa Anita.

Overlooked by a large portion of the media (perhaps conveniently, some would say) is the anomaly that January 2020 represented, not just for the Fair Grounds but also for Thoroughbred racing in America. In terms of catastrophic injury rate, the sport enjoyed the smallest rate of fatalities per 1,000 starts—1.53—in 2019.

Sealing or floating a track produces a flat surface for water to run off.

Sealing or floating a track produces a flat surface for water to run off.

The Jockey Club created an Equine Injury Database (EID) in 2009, recording statistics and specifically compiling data from 14 leading tracks (including Santa Anita). In that first year, fatalities were 2.0 per 1,000 starts—the highest in the span of the 11-year-old EID.

So what happened at the Fair Grounds?

A harrowed track surface enables water to penetrate the surface rather than run off, causing over-saturation and potentially ripe for injuries and fatalities.

A harrowed track surface enables water to penetrate the surface rather than run off, causing over-saturation and potentially ripe for injuries and fatalities.

Dr. Michael "Mick" Peterson, executive director of the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory, led a team of track management and, perhaps more critical, trainers with horses at the Fair Grounds to examine and analyze the track surface, particularly maintenance practices. Fatalities are multifactorial, and the intent was to address potential issues with the track surface. According to Peterson, unexpected and unpredicted rainfall during training hours occurred in January. Making matters worse, the rain—while amounting to maybe a half to three-quarters of an inch—fell for 45 minutes to an hour.

Harrowed before training, the track surface was "open," as Peterson termed it, enabling water to penetrate the surface rather than run off.

The result was a surface possibly over-saturated and potentially ripe for injuries and fatalities during races in the afternoon. Closing the door to this possibility meant closing the track if rain was expected or did fall during training and sealing or "floating it," which produces a flat surface for water to run off into the infield.

If that sounds simple, it isn't. There are dozens of trainers with stalls full of horses each needing track time, either for leg-stretching gallops or, more importantly, workouts timed out a certain number of days before an upcoming race. Racehorses are athletes who absolutely have to get out of their stalls, and there are no days off. Weather can’t be a deterrent; they run in the rain, and they train in the rain. Stopping training to float and seal a racetrack—something commonly done between afternoon races—is uncommon during training hours and disruptive to trainers’ schedules. Simply put, trainers lose a hunk of training time if the track superintendent floats the surface during workout hours in the morning.

Fair Grounds track superintendent Pedro Zavala uses a soil moisture meter to measure moisture content at different areas of the track surface.

Fair Grounds track superintendent Pedro Zavala uses a soil moisture meter to measure moisture content at different areas of the track surface.

Here is where, according to Peterson, the Fair Grounds achieved real success. A group of trainers met with Fair Grounds track manager Jason Boulet, track superintendent Pedro Zavala, and Peterson and basically said, "We're going to have to do that then," referring to track closure during training for surface sealing.

For Peterson, Boulet and especially Zavala, this response from trainers with entries, races slated, and owners to whom they are accountable was as jaw-dropping as Santa Anita's zero dirt-track fatality statistic in 2020.

"It really was one of those perfect moments in interaction between track management and superintendent and trainers," said Peterson, who added, "It's hard to get up in the morning and not know which horses you can train. I was thoroughly impressed with the willingness of trainers to do that."

Their only request was as much of a heads-up as possible to trainers if weather radar indicated rain looked likely. Track closure during training for floating was an option left on the table. It was part of “give and take,” as Peterson termed it, to enable trainers to send out horses needing a workout for an upcoming race ahead of a wet track.

"If I'm a trainer, I know that I might lose the second half of training because they're going to shut it down and run the floats. Then I can train whatever horses I know I need to get out there in the first set.

"This is where the industry needs to go—the communication, being reasonable, recognizing the need for give and take at times."

Screenshot 2021-02-24 at 12.12.38.png

The cooperation of trainers at the Fair Grounds should not have been a surprise, given the history at the track. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 provides an anecdote that is very telling about the input of trainers into track conditions and management at this third oldest American racetrack.

Katrina flooded the Fair Grounds and washed away the track surface. What replaced it was not nearly as good as pre-Katrina, according to regular Fair Grounds trainers. A group of them, principal among them Al Stall, provided a simple observation: "It was better with the darker sand," said Stall at the time, referring to reddish sand in the pre-Katrina surface.

Peterson remembered Boulet calling him to report that trainers were convinced darker spillway sand from the nearby Mississippi River would bring the track back to what it was. "Jason said, 'I think they're crazy. I don't think the color matters,'" recalled Peterson with a laugh. "I said, ‘Jason what they are actually identifying is the little bit of iron oxide in the sand. It's hydrophilic and not hydrophobic, and you know what? I bet they're exactly right.’" …

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Is the casino “band-aid” falling off? - Casinos at racetracks were always seen as a temporary fix to racing’s massive problem of not doing enough business to survive.

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Is the Casino Band-Aid Falling Off?By Bill HellerThe danger signs are everywhere.Casinos at racetracks were always seen as a band-aid—a temporary fix to horse racing’s massive problem of not doing enough business to survive, let alone prosper.What happens when the band-aid falls off?In Illinois, where horsemen battled for nearly 10 years to finally get casinos approved at its racetracks, Churchill Downs’ decision not to pursue a casino at Arlington Park has left the future of this international-caliber, iconic Chicago racetrack in dire doubt.In Florida, another Churchill Downs’ racetrack—Calder Raceway—which has operated as Gulfstream Park West on a lease agreement with Gulfstream Park, sought and received legislative approval to keep its casino open with jai alai replacing horse racing. This year’s Gulfstream Park West meeting is its last, with horsemen having to remove their horses by April 15. In the interim, horsemen are hopeful that an appeal and two lawsuits will change that reality.The governor in Pennsylvania in February called for revenue from casinos legislatively targeted to racetracks be used instead to offer free college education. And that was before the coronavirus pandemic made every state in America revenue strapped. Pennsylvania horsemen are hoping they’ll be protected under existing legislation.The sky is falling.“Frankly, not everyone is going to survive,” trainer John Servis, a board member of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen Association, said. “We all knew this was going to come. We need to be able to stand on our own two feet. We have to stop relying on the casinos.”Can they?The plight of Illinois horsemen is downright depressing. “The thing that strikes me is that Illinois never had the band-aid of the racino,” said Dave McCaffrey, a long-time harness racing trainer who was president of the Illinois Harness Horsemen for eight years and is now the executive director of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. “At least Delaware, New York and Pennsylvania had this nice run of 10 or 15 or 20 years of dramatically increased purses and increased racing dates because of casino revenue.”A native of Iowa who went to college in Minnesota and fell in love with Quad City Downs—a harness track in Illinois—chronicled the decade-long battle to get slots approved at racetracks. It began while McCaffrey was the head of harness horsemen. It began with a typical, historic cooperation between the state’s Thoroughbred and harness horsemen. “The harness and Thoroughbred horsemen, typically in the country, do not agree on much,” McCaffrey said.McCaffrey and Thoroughbred trainer Mike Campbell, who was president of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen Association, had met at the University of Arizona Racing Symposium in 2009. The following year, they decided to work together. “Both breeds were in such dire straits we figured we were stronger together,” McCaffrey said. “What’s good for us is good for you. We hooked up in a great alliance, and in three months we crafted a bill that I think is the best racino deal in the country. It would have produced 15 percent of adjusted gross revenue to purses. In other states, the casino revenue goes from the racetrack to the state to the purses. In Illinois, it would go straight from the track to purses—a huge difference. When other states are strapped, they don’t want to pay that money for purses. In Illinois, they never get their hands on it.”Neither have Illinois horsemen because there are still no racinos at Illinois racetracks a decade later. What went wrong? McCaffrey provided the two-word answer: “Illinois politics.”In various stages, the racino bill was a victim of the city of Chicago wanting its own casino; the governor vetoing the bill; one house passing the bill but the other house declining to do so; a governor who couldn’t get anything through because both houses were of the other party. “They fought like cats and dogs for four years,” McCaffrey said. “The bill didn’t even get to the floor.”Right before the election of a new governor, Jay “J.B.” Pritzker, who supported the gaming bill, in 2018, Churchill Downs, bought a 60 percent interest in the Rivers casino, 13 miles from Arlington. “I remember it being Halloween when that deal was announced,” McCaffrey said. “There was all this optimism that the damn gaming bill might finally be passed in 2019.”Prtizker took office in January 2019. The gaming bill passed both houses and was indeed signed into law on June 27, 2019, authorizing Illinois’ three remaining racetracks: Arlington Park, Fairmount Park and Hawthorne to build racinos. But Churchill Downs didn’t even apply for a racino license. “Churchill Downs decided this gaming bill doesn’t work for them and were not going to apply for the racino license at Arlington despite the fact that they were screaming for the bill to get passed for 10 years,” McCaffrey said.It got worse. The coronavirus pandemic struck this spring, and Arlington’s already reduced meeting of 70 days were slashed to 30 minus Arlington’s signature races including the Arlington Million.On July 31, according to a story in Chicago’s Daily Herald, Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen, on a quarterly earnings call with investors, said, “The long-term solution is not Arlington Park. That land will have a higher and better purpose for something else at some point. But we want to work constructively with all of the constituencies in the market to see if there’s an opportunity to move the license or otherwise change the circumstances so that racing can continue to Illinois. For us, we’ve been patient and thoughtful and constructive with the parties up in that jurisdiction, but long term, that land gets sold.”Mike Campbell is buying none of that. “I’ve repeatedly said I’ve had conversations with several gaming companies to buy Arlington Park—three gaming companies and a very wealthy horse owner all made inquiries to Churchill Downs. Churchill Downs said, `Not interested.’ They’re just not interested. Carstanjen said, `a higher use than a racetrack. Who the hell is he to say it’s suited for a better purpose? There are thousands of jobs involved. I think that what’s going to happen at Arlington is that in the middle of the night they’re going to come in and excavate that track in a manner that it can’t be fixed. Just do it and don’t ask questions.”“It’s exasperating,” Campbell said. “I’ve been president of the horsemen for 10 years. I’m all in for my horsemen. I told my board I’ll do everything I can to step in front of the train to slow it down. But money always wins. I’m the first to recognize it.”Phone calls to Churchill Downs, Inc. requesting a comment were not returned.Campbell, who trains a dozen horses, spent the past year on the road. “We traveled a lot,” he said. “I was in Tampa for seven months, then at Colonial. I plan on going to Keeneland, then back to Florida. I don’t want to do that. We’re being driven from our homes. This is very personal to me. I’ve lived 12 miles north of Arlington Park for 25 years. I raised my family there. My two sons are jockeys. They’re driving us from our own homes. We’re going to move. We’re going to sell our house. There are dozens like me. They’re not taking a gaming license? It’s absurd people are letting them get away with it.”According to McCaffrey, Hawthorne will begin building its racino in September. “It will take 12 to 14 months,” he said.Arlington Park could be shuttered by then.In Florida, Calder Raceway, a.k.a. Gulfstream Park West, will become history. “Our lease was up at the end of the year anyway,” said Billy Badgett, Gulfstream Park’s executive director and former trainer of Filly Champion Go for Wand. “They had everything put in motion to get jai alai approved. I don’t know how it got approved.”He certainly understands Churchill Downs’ motivation: “They can run jai alai at a very minimal cost. They don’t have to have horse racing or dog racing. Eventually, everybody is going to do that or try to do that. This is the edge everyone wants to take.”The impact on South Florida horsemen is real. “We’re going to lose 430 stalls,” Badgett said. “We’re building more barns in Palm Meadows (Gulfstream Park’s training center, 20 miles north) so they’ll have a place to go. They let us extend an agreement to keep the barns open until April 15.”Badgett said Gulfstream Park will also “lose some substantial purse money,” but is working to mitigate that loss. “We’re working on some legislative action, including night racing.”Badgett is convinced that racing must address its own future. “I’m a firm believer that racing should be able to stand on its own two feet,” he said. “If you have to rely on your casinos for purse money, it’s not good.”He is not losing faith in horse racing’s appeal. “We’ve been lucky that people still love horse racing,” he said. “As you can see during the pandemic, the handle numbers have been huge. Even on Travers Day at Saratoga, they were up 38 percent (???) with no people there.”In the meantime, the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (FLHBPA) has two lawsuits pending before an appellate court arguing that Churchill Downs built a jai alai fronton with no connection to its casino as the statute of Florida law stipulates. “Churchill Downs was allowed to tear down the grandstand at Calder and [was] told if they apply for a summer jai alai permit, they would no longer have to put horse racing on to maintain their casino license,” Kevin Scheen, the executive director of the FLHBPA said. “This is how they side-stepped their obligations to the horsemen and the horse industry. Their only consideration is to their shareholders—the bottom line. We’re losing 40 days of racing. We’re hopeful we’ll prevail on the appeal. If we don’t, we’ll be examining our options.”He mentioned Palm Meadows and Ocala as possibilities. “We’re lucky we have a great relationship with Gulfstream Park.”In Pennsylvania, Servis—who did a masterful job with 2004 Kentucky Downs and Preakness Stakes winner Smarty Jones—and Sal DeBunda (president of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association since 2010) continue to battle for horsemen’s future. “We’ve been battling every year,” Servis said. “Every year they want to take money from us. The governor can say take the money for education or highways or senior citizens, for whatever. Does the money ever get there? Politics is politics.”He continued, “There’s a bill where they want to put slot machines in the bars and restaurants. It may not be this year. It may be next year. But it’s coming. If that happens, we’re going to have to fight to get a piece of that. That’s only the tip of the iceberg. We have to be aggressive. We have to take care of ourselves.”DeBunda believes they already have through Article 71, which gives a percentage of slots to the Pennsylvania Horse Development Fund. “They’ve been taking money out of the Fund since year two after slots were passed 11 years ago,” he said. “If they take more than $31 million, they have to return all the money they’ve taken the last 10 years. That was a way to not let them take more. The governor was told this by his staff before his statement about education. If we were going to allow slots in the same facility where we have horse racing, we were going to take a piece. That’s been forgotten. They put in table games and on-line gaming, and we get none of that. When he first got slots, we looked at each other and said this is terrific. We didn’t realize every year we have to educate people. The biggest factor is educating our legislature.”With slots, DeBunda said, average daily purses at Pennsylvania tracks have increased from $130,000 to $250,000. Without them? “I’m an optimist,” Servis said. “I don’t want to paint a negative picture, but we’re battling every single year.”Will New Jersey and Kentucky tracks have to battle, too?In late August, the governor of New Jersey submitted a proposed state budget which did not include the $20 million subsidy that has been split evenly between the Thoroughbred and Standardbred industry.Meanwhile, a court ruling in Kentucky on September 24, has endangered the wildly-popular Historical Horse Racing (HHR) slot-like machine game, a completely different version of the Instant Racing game which literally saved Oaklawn Park in Arkansas, and allowed Kentucky tracks to boost their purses dramatically. On September 24, a Kentucky Supreme Court reversed a 2018 court decision allowing the game at Kentucky tracks. The ruling said that one part of the game using exactas violated the state law on legal parimutuel wagering. That decision could be devastating. In the 2019-2020 fiscal year, which ended in June, $2.2 billion was wagered on HHR at Kentucky tracks, generating $15.6 million for the Thoroughbred Development Fund, $11.8 million for the Standardbred Development Farm, $650,000 for the Equine Industry Program and $320,000 to Equine Drug Research.Churchill Downs Inc., which saw its share price drop by 9.74 percent on the day of the court ruling, released a statement that Churchill Downs tracks does not use the exacta in any of its HHR facilities.Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said that HHR contributes $21 million to the state budget and that his office is working to find “a path forward.”Sooner than later, many racetracks are going to need a path forward, one dependent on its quality of racing and the marketing of its races rather than slot machines.*************************Oaklawn SidebarBy Bill HellerCenturies after Plato said, “Necessity is the mother of invention,” Eric Jackson, the senior vice president at Oaklawn Park in his 40th year at the Cella family’s beautiful track in Hot Springs, Ark., was desperate. “We had been imperiled in the 1990s,” he said. “We had casinos popping up outside us in Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Louisiana. We had lost 50 to 60 percent of our business. We nearly went out of business. We knew we had to have an electronic product.“In Arkansas, we were allowed parimutuel betting. I had an idea to develop a slot-like wagering device based on horse racing. It took a while to germinate—three or four years.”That idea (Instant Racing) not only saved Oaklawn, it ultimately led to the state of Arkansas approving four casinos—one of them at the track the Cella family has owned for 117 years. Oaklawn is predicting purses for its next 57-day meet will top $700,000 daily.With the addition of the casino, Oaklawn Park dropped Instant Racing in November 2018, and it has done nothing to slow Oaklawn’s continuing purse growth, one which will accelerate when Southland Casino Racing in West Memphis abandons greyhound racing by December 31, 2022. That decision has already been made and announced. Southland Casino received 40 percent of targeted casino revenue for purses and Oaklawn 60. “When they close, we’ll get 100 percent,” Jackson said.“We believe we have the best racing gaming model in America, and the model is based on a single concept,” he continued. “And the concept is ‘racing comes first.’ We have been a track for 117 years. The Cella family loves racing.The irony is epic. A slot-like machine based on horse racing allowed Oaklawn Park to prosper, then was abandoned when the track added a full casino. But that wouldn’t have happened had Oaklawn not used Instant Racing to literally continue to operate. “It exceeded our expectations,” Jackson said.His boss, Louis Cella said, “We buck the trend. You don’t see feel-good stories today. I think the answer is we focus on Oaklawn. We don’t have a higher agenda. We believe in it, and we’re going to lead by example. We have an unbelievable relationship with our horsemen and with the state racing commission. It’s the opposite of typical. Other companies focus on the bottom line. We don’t. We don’t have shareholders. A lot of our success is because we don’t have shareholders. We want you to have fun. We couldn’t care less if you make a wager. That’s not our focus. We prefer people come with a family, go in the infield with hot dogs, and enjoy the sport. We’re lucky. We don’t have professional sports in Arkansas. We are in the game to sell the sport. If you can’t, shut the doors.”His track nearly did.Oaklawn invited several technology experts to visit Oaklawn Park and meet with racetrack officials and officials from Amtote in 1998. Eventually, they devised Instant Racing, which allows betters to do a bit of handicapping, satisfying Arkansas’ state law description of parimutuel racing.Instant Racing was introduced in January, 2000, and then expanded in 2009. Purses grew exponentially. “In 2018, there was an effort from the Quapaw Native Indian tribe. They came up with a novel idea,” Jackson said. “They would get one of four casinos in Arkansas, and they were willing to put casino revenue into purses. The voters approved it.”Oaklawn Park has flourished ever since. “First off, we’re really lucky,” said Cella, a lawyer and real estate dealer in St. Louis who took over the track’s operation three years ago after his dad died. “We don’t have professional sports in Arkansas. We’re really hard to get to. Once you get there it’s very hard to leave it. It’s the natural beauty surrounding us. We’re part of a park (Hot Springs National Park). It’s beautiful. Because of that, we have a very close relationship with our community. Hot Springs’ population is around 35,000 to 40,000. We’ll have 70,000 people on Arkansas Derby Day. We don’t have professional sports in Arkansas. People sneak in and go and have fun.”Of course, Oaklawn has a decided edge. Just like Saratoga, Oaklawn has a limited single meet every year. People miss racing. “Our nickname was Saratoga South,” Cella said. “That was our mantra. Follow them.”Oaklawn Park has done that with decisive, innovative ideas. “We took over our catering 25 years ago because we had to keep prices reasonable,” Cella said. “When you have an outside company, they have to make a profit. When we had our 100th anniversary celebration on opening day in 2004, we said, `What happens if we roll back prices to what they were 100 years ago?’’ We had 10-cent sodas and 50-cent corned beef sandwiches. We basically give away six tons of corned beef. We do that every year on opening day. That’s how we kick off the season. You see folks with sandwiches piled high. Businesses send people running in to get a stack of sandwiches. Because we don’t have shareholders, we get to choose. What’s best for our industry? We ask ourselves every single day, `How do we improve our sport in Arkansas?’”Jackson and Cella came up with an original idea. “When we started to grow, we had to hire gaming folks from outside Hot Springs or outside Arkansas,” Cella said. “We said most of our managers have no idea what horse racing is. Eric created an agenda for Oaklawn University. Eric does everything for it. The purpose is to give these new members a smidgen of information about horse racing, our family and our community. It ends with a tour of a horse farm. It has nothing to do with casinos. It’s about horse racing and our history. That’s the message.”Cella enrolled himself. “That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever been through.” He said. “I had no idea. I loved it. It’s a great program.”The six-week curriculum, Jackson said, “explains how we got here, why certain things are important to us. When you connect all the dots, it says racing comes first. We want people to never forget that.”Jockey Ron Moquet and Jeanette Milligan—office manager of the Arkansas Horsemen Benevolent and Protective Association, whose husband Alan is a trainer—are Oaklawn University graduates.Oaklawn’s successful business model with Instant Racing led to tracks all over the country to invite him to speak. One discussion, maybe 15 years ago, sticks in his memory. “I was at Derby Lane Dog Track in Tampa, Fla.,” he said. “I was with representatives of the dog industry and horse racing. They wanted to know about Instant Racing. I told them if one party gets greedy, it’s not going to work. You have to agree to have lower margins because the people will show up. People started yelling at each other, dogs vs. horses. I banged my glass and stood up. I said, `Gentlemen, you’re wasting my time.’ And I walked out.”

By Bill Heller

The danger signs are everywhere. 

Casinos at racetracks were always seen as a band-aid—a temporary fix to horse racing’s massive problem of not doing enough business to survive, let alone prosper.

What happens when the band-aid falls off?

In Illinois, where horsemen battled for nearly 10 years to finally get casinos approved at its racetracks, Churchill Downs’ decision not to pursue a casino at Arlington Park has left the future of this international-caliber, iconic Chicago racetrack in dire doubt.

In Florida, another Churchill Downs’ racetrack—Calder Raceway—which has operated as Gulfstream Park West on a lease agreement with Gulfstream Park, sought and received legislative approval to keep its casino open with jai alai replacing horse racing. This year’s Gulfstream Park West meeting is its last, with horsemen having to remove their horses by April 15. In the interim, horsemen are hopeful that an appeal and two lawsuits will change that reality.

The governor in Pennsylvania in February called for revenue from casinos legislatively targeted to racetracks be used instead to offer free college education. And that was before the coronavirus pandemic made every state in America revenue strapped. Pennsylvania horsemen are hoping they’ll be protected under existing legislation. 

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The sky is falling.

“Frankly, not everyone is going to survive,” trainer John Servis, a board member of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen Association, said. “We all knew this was going to come. We need to be able to stand on our own two feet. We have to stop relying on the casinos.”

Can they?

The plight of Illinois horsemen is downright depressing. “The thing that strikes me is that Illinois never had the band-aid of the racino,” said Dave McCaffrey, a long-time harness racing trainer who was president of the Illinois Harness Horsemen for eight years and is now the executive director of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. “At least Delaware, New York and Pennsylvania had this nice run of 10 or 15 or 20 years of dramatically increased purses and increased racing dates because of casino revenue.”

A native of Iowa who went to college in Minnesota and fell in love with Quad City Downs—a harness track in Illinois—chronicled the decade-long battle to get slots approved at racetracks. It began while McCaffrey was the head of harness horsemen. It began with a typical, historic cooperation between the state’s Thoroughbred and harness horsemen. “The harness and Thoroughbred horsemen, typically in the country, do not agree on much,” McCaffrey said. 

McCaffrey and Thoroughbred trainer Mike Campbell, who was president of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen Association, had met at the University of Arizona Racing Symposium in 2009. The following year, they decided to work together. “Both breeds were in such dire straits we figured we were stronger together,” McCaffrey said. “What’s good for us is good for you. We hooked up in a great alliance, and in three months we crafted a bill that I think is the best racino deal in the country. It would have produced 15 percent of adjusted gross revenue to purses. In other states, the casino revenue goes from the racetrack to the state to the purses. In Illinois, it would go straight from the track to purses—a huge difference. When other states are strapped, they don’t want to pay that money for purses. In Illinois, they never get their hands on it.”

Neither have Illinois horsemen because there are still no racinos at Illinois racetracks a decade later. What wet wrong? McCaffrey provided the two-word answer: “Illinois politics.”

In various stages, the racino bill was a victim of the city of Chicago wanting its own casino; the governor vetoing the bill; one house passing the bill but the other house declining to do so; a governor who couldn’t get anything through because both houses were of the other party. “They fought like cats and dogs for four years,” McCaffrey said. “The bill didn’t even get to the floor.”

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Right before the election of a new governor, Jay “J.B.” Pritzker, who supported the gaming bill, in 2018, Churchill Downs, bought a 60 percent interest in the Rivers casino, 13 miles from Arlington. “I remember it being Halloween when that deal was announced,” McCaffrey said. “There was all this optimism that the damn gaming bill might finally be passed in 2019.”

Prtizker took office in January 2019. The gaming bill passed both houses and was indeed signed into law on June 27, 2019, authorizing Illinois’ three remaining racetracks: Arlington Park, Fairmount Park and Hawthorne to build racinos. But Churchill Downs didn’t even apply for a racino license. “Churchill Downs decided this gaming bill doesn’t work for them and were not going to apply for the racino license at Arlington despite the fact that they were screaming for the bill to get passed for 10 years,” McCaffrey said.

It got worse. The coronavirus pandemic struck this spring, and Arlington’s already reduced meeting of 70 days were slashed to 30 minus Arlington’s signature races including the Arlington Million.

On July 31, according to a story in Chicago’s Daily Herald, Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen, on a quarterly earnings call with investors, said, “The long-term solution is not Arlington Park. That land will have a higher and better purpose for something else at some point. But we want to work constructively with all of the constituencies in the market to see if there’s an opportunity to move the license or otherwise change the circumstances so that racing can continue to Illinois. For us, we’ve been patient and thoughtful and constructive with the parties up in that jurisdiction, but long term, that land gets sold.”

Mike Campbell is buying none of that. “I’ve repeatedly said I’ve had conversations with several gaming companies to buy Arlington Park—three gaming companies and a very wealthy horse owner all made inquiries to Churchill Downs. Churchill Downs said, `Not interested.’ They’re just not interested. Carstanjen said, `a higher use than a racetrack. Who the hell is he to say it’s suited for a better purpose? There are thousands of jobs involved. I think that what’s going to happen at Arlington is that in the middle of the night they’re going to come in and excavate that track in a manner that it can’t be fixed. Just do it and don’t ask questions.”

“It’s exasperating,” Campbell said. “I’ve been president of the horsemen for 10 years. I’m all in for my horsemen. I told my board I’ll do everything I can to step in front of the train to slow it down. But money always wins. I’m the first to recognize it.”

Phone calls to Churchill Downs, Inc. requesting a comment were not returned. …

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Justice on track - Real world lessons from a Thoroughbred court case

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Justice on Track: Real-World Lessonsfrom a Thoroughbred Court Case By Peter J. Sacopulos Morning training of Thoroughbreds at tracks is standard to the industry. So too are exercise riders losing their mounts and loose horses. Less standard is a collision between horses resulting in civil litigation. This article examines such a case and several issues important to Thoroughbred trainers including the Sports Activity Doctrine.From Routine to UnforeseenMonday, May 7, 2018, dawned clear and cool at the Indiana Grand racetrack in Shelbyville, Ind. Jeremy Staley, who worked as an assistant groom for Michael E. Lauer Racing Stables, prepped a chestnut mare named Accessorizing for a routine morning training session. Accessorizing is owned by the trainer’s wife. The four-year-old had chalked up an impressive three first-place finishes in just under two years, and the Lauers were confident she had a bright future ahead.As expected, Mr. Staley met with a licensed jockey named Marcelle Martins. Martins had offered to exercise horses free of charge. Several trainers had taken her up on it, including Mike Lauer. Lauer had four decades of experience as a trainer and knew that Martins was a skilled horsewoman with a valid jockey license.Each received something of value from the transaction. For Lauer, it was the chance to test a potential hire while saving the expense of an exercise rider. For Martins, it was the chance to showcase her skills for a successful trainer and a shot at mounts in future races. Neither Martins nor Lauer presented or signed any paperwork. It was the kind of easy, informal agreement that happens all the time in professional horse racing.Martins mounted Accessorizing and began the workout. Of course, she was not the only rider on the track that day. A number of other exercise riders were putting horses through their paces, and the track’s outriders were on duty. Everything went as expected until Martins and Accessorizing rounded a turn. The mare began ignoring Martins’ commands. Martins was unable to gain control of the reins. Martins lost her balance and mount, and Accessorizing was loose and headed toward a group of horses that included Glitter Cat. Glitter Cat was owned by Civiol Cruz, who was taking his horse through its own morning exercise routine.Accessorizing collided with Glitter Cat. Cruz was thrown to the ground and injured. The clocker had sounded the loose horse alert. Cruz was loaded into an ambulance and taken to a local hospital. Martins was roughed up but did not require a trip to the ER. Remarkably, neither Accessorizing nor Glitter Cat sustained serious injuries.The LawsuitOn July 2, 2018, Civilo Cruz filed a civil lawsuit. The suit named the track, the training business, the owner/trainer, and Marcelle Martins as defendants. Cruz alleged in his complaint that the owner of the track failed to provide adequate safety precautions and protections. He also alleged that the existing safety systems, including the loose horse siren, failed to function properly. Cruz further alleged that, as owner/trainers, the Lauers knowingly allowed an unqualified employee to ride a dangerous horse, consciously putting others at risk. Finally, Cruz claimed Marcelle Martins was an unqualified exercise rider who had acted recklessly by losing control of her mount.Simply put, Cruz and his attorneys alleged that the defendants were responsible for the accident because they behaved recklessly and/or negligently. Cruz demanded the defendants pay his medical bills that totaled over $60,000. He also sought compensation for lost income and for pain and suffering.Insurance and LiabilityThe owner and trainer had purchased a ranch insurance policy. A ranch insurance policy is something of a hybrid between a consumer homeowner’s policy and a commercial policy. While policies vary, a ranch policy typically offers the protections of homeowner’s insurance, providing coverage for theft, burglary, fire and certain natural disasters. Similar to a homeowner’s policy, a ranch policy also offers specified levels of liability protection should someone be injured on the property. Ranch policies also include commercial protection, covering business assets and activities associated with the property, such as animals, equipment, and outbuildings. The policy’s liability protections extend to commercial activities as well. In many instances, a ranch policy may provide coverage beyond the physical location of the ranch. However, these policies vary.Therefore, had a visitor been injured by a horse on the Lauers’ Kentucky ranch, the company that issued the policy would have been involved in determining fault. If the injured party was not at fault, the policy would afford coverage within the limits of the policy. If an incident or injury resulted in a lawsuit, the insurer would provide a defense, including payment of legal costs and judgments per the limits of the policy.Confusion and misunderstandings about insurance coverage abound in the Thoroughbred racing world. What is clear is that trainers and owners should give serious consideration to securing business insurance that specifically covers equine athletic activity. A reputable equine insurance professional will ensure that you have a policy that fits your needs.Kevin Lavin, director of equine insurance at Sterling Thompson in Louisville, Ky., explains, “If an equine policy contains an athletic activity exclusion, a liability exposure exists for Thoroughbred trainers and owners.” Evan Beauchamp of Equine Insurance Specialists in Lexington notes: “At the bare minimum, trainers should have a liability policy that covers their training operation. In fact, in many areas, proof of liability coverage is required to participate in racing activities.”Mounting a DefenseThe defendants had a strong and solid defense to Mr. Cruz’ allegations. In fact, many points of the owner and trainer’s defense and the track’s defense overlapped.Counsel for the defendants moved that the case be dismissed before proceeding to trial. Such a dismissal is known as a “summary judgment.” A summary judgment is a motion seeking a ruling in favor of the moving party. To be successful, the moving party must show that there are no genuine issues as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.It might be assumed that Indiana’s Equine Activity Law, which limits lawsuits against individuals and businesses involved in horse-related activities, played a role in these motions. However, in most states, the Equine Activity Statutes do not apply to horse racing. This meant the Sports Activity Doctrine formed the core of the defense.The Sports Activity Doctrine holds that, in most situations, an individual participating in a sport understands and accepts the inherent risks involved. Because the individual willingly exposes himself or herself to those risks, the Sports Activity Doctrine places limits on a participant’s ability to sue if he or she is injured. Of course, there are exceptions. If the injuries suffered are due to someone else’s negligence, recklessness, or intent to cause harm, legal action may establish that the injured party is owed a “duty of care.”The track, owner, and trainer asserted that Mr. Cruz had willingly and knowingly participated in a dangerous sports activity, accepting the risks involved. All defendants also asserted that the accident was of the type known to occur during such activity, and no one involved acted with recklessness, negligence, or the intent to harm. The track’s attorneys maintained that the safeguards it had in place were appropriate and functioning at the time of the accident. The owner and trainer pointed out that Marcelle Martins was licensed as a jockey by state regulators, and that her license qualified her to be an exercise rider, proving she was qualified to ride Accessorizing. Further, the owner and trainer’s defense maintained that Martins was not an employee, but rather an independent contractor.Employees and Independent ContractorsAn issue not decided by the trial court was whether Marcelle Martins was an employee or an independent contractor at the time of the incident. Martins had exercised horses for multiple trainers on the morning of May 7, 2018. The possibility of Martins being determined to be an employee of the trainer would have been contrary to the nature of the business. Therefore, the Lauers sought a determination of Marcelle Martins’ status on appeal.The issue of exercise riders being employees or independent contractors was not unique to this case. A brief discussion of the differences and distinctions between employee and independent contractor for trainers is important.Employees work directly for an individual or company. They are on the payroll, under the direction of the employer, and often receive benefits, such as sick time, paid vacation and health insurance. An employer is responsible for the actions of his/her employee(s) and specific payments toward an employee’s Social Security, unemployment insurance and Medicare funding.An independent contractor is an individual or company that operates as an independent business entity. Independent contractors often establish their own schedule, provide their own equipment, and are responsible for their own Social Security and Medicare payments. They are also typically responsible for their own business and health insurance retirement funding, and so on. Whether one is an employee or independent contract is a recurring issue in the racing business. Mr. Cruz argued that Ms. Martins was an employee; the owner and trainer argued that she was an independent contractor.Trainers retaining exercise riders or anyone else on a “per assignment” basis should establish that these individuals are independent contractors, not employees. Having a simple contractor agreement that is signed before any work is performed is ideal, as is creating a record of work assigned and payments issued. If the work requires a license, check the license, and make sure it is up to date. Doing so will go a long way toward protecting your business.A Decision and an AppealOn November 21, 2019, the trial court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, holding that the Sports Activity Doctrine applied and that the track and the Lauers were entitled to judgment as a matter of law. In doing so, the court ruled that Cruz had not provided adequate evidence that the track, trainer, owner or the exercise rider had engaged in reckless or negligent behavior, nor that any of them owed him a “duty of care.” Pursuant to the Sports Activity Doctrine, Cruz had been injured while participating in an inherently risky activity. However, the court did not dismiss the issue of whether Martins was an independent contractor or employee, providing a possible avenue of appeal.The Court Conducts a ReviewCounsel for Mr. Cruz appealed the trial court’s decision. The Court of Appeals, in affirming the trial court’s decision, reviewed the Sports Activity Doctrine. In doing so, the court reviewed and relied upon Indiana’s Sports Activity Doctrine authority that has been applied to date. The discussion reviewed three cases that used the Sports Activity Doctrine. Those cases and a brief synopsis of those decisions follow.• In South Shore Baseball vs. DeJesus, a woman seated just outside of an area protected by netting was injured by a foul ball. She filed suit, largely based on the claim that the ballpark’s netting and other safety precautions were inadequate. South Shore Baseball asserts a defense based on the Sports Activity Doctrine. The state supreme court dismissed her case. The court found the netting and warnings to be adequate and determined that the woman had willingly exposed herself to the type of accidents known to occur in ballparks.• In Pfenning vs. Lineman, a teenager attending a golf tournament was injured by a golf ball while driving a beverage cart on a golf course. She filed suit, claiming negligence. The defense relied on the Sports Activity Doctrine. The court ruled that the young woman had accepted the risks associated with a sporting event, and in a decision viewed as expanding the protections of the Sports Activity Doctrine, that participants in a sport cannot be held liable for accidents if their conduct is within the range of acceptable behavior for that sport.• In Megenity vs. Dunn, a woman bracing a large punching bag at a karate event was injured when another participant delivered a more powerful type of kick than instructed. This case also found its way to the state supreme court. The defendant relied on and advanced a defense based on the Sports Activity Doctrine. The judges ruled that because sports are “imprecise and intense,” courts must look at the sport in general, and not focus on unintentional, in-the-moment mishaps occurring within the range of acceptable behavior.A Decision Is MadeOn June 26, 2020, the Indiana Court of Appeals dismissed Cruz’s suit against defendants, citing precedents established in the cases summarized above. The court ruled that the track’s safety systems met acceptable standards, and that none of the track’s personnel had acted recklessly or negligently.The appeals court also ruled that the precedents and protections defined by Pfenning and Megenity shielded the exercise rider, Martins, from liability. Because Martins could not be held liable, the owner, trainer and Lauer Stables could not be held liable regardless of the nature of her employment. The court noted that the Lauer Stables could potentially have been held liable if 1.) Martins had deliberately intended to harm others and 2.) Mike Lauer had been aware of such intentions but made no effort to prevent her from doing so. However, there was no evidence supporting either of these hypothetical situations.The court also ruled that there was no evidence that Accessorizing was any more dangerous than a typical Thoroughbred racehorse, vindicating the trainer and owner. Finally, the court found no that there were no facts disputing Marcelle Martins’ status as an independent contractor.Having represented individuals and entities in the equine industry for more than 15 years, there are a few “take away” points. First, do not assume that equine activity statutes and/or the Sports Activity Doctrine offer ironclad protection or defenses against liability actions. Second, work with an equine insurance professional to assure you and your business have the necessary coverage. Third, classify and document business interactions to limit disputes regarding whether assistants are employees or independent contractors.#####################

By Peter J. Sacopulos

Morning training of Thoroughbreds at tracks is standard to the industry. So too are exercise riders losing their mounts and loose horses. Less standard is a collision between horses resulting in civil litigation. This article examines such a case and several issues important to Thoroughbred trainers including the Sports Activity Doctrine.


From Routine to Unforeseen

Monday, May 7, 2018, dawned clear and cool at the Indiana Grand racetrack in Shelbyville, Ind. Jeremy Staley, who worked as an assistant groom for Michael E. Lauer Racing Stables, prepped a chestnut mare named Accessorizing for a routine morning training session. Accessorizing is owned by the trainer’s wife. The four-year-old had chalked up an impressive three first-place finishes in just under two years, and the Lauers were confident she had a bright future ahead.

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As expected, Mr. Staley met with a licensed jockey named Marcelle Martins. Martins had offered to exercise horses free of charge. Several trainers had taken her up on it, including Mike Lauer. Lauer had four decades of experience as a trainer and knew that Martins was a skilled horsewoman with a valid jockey license.

Each received something of value from the transaction. For Lauer, it was the chance to test a potential hire while saving the expense of an exercise rider. For Martins, it was the chance to showcase her skills for a successful trainer and a shot at mounts in future races. Neither Martins nor Lauer presented or signed any paperwork. It was the kind of easy, informal agreement that happens all the time in professional horse racing. 

Martins mounted Accessorizing and began the workout. Of course, she was not the only rider on the track that day. A number of other exercise riders were putting horses through their paces, and the track’s outriders were on duty. Everything went as expected until Martins and Accessorizing rounded a turn. The mare began ignoring Martins’ commands. Martins was unable to gain control of the reins. Martins lost her balance and mount, and Accessorizing was loose and headed toward a group of horses that included Glitter Cat. Glitter Cat was owned by Civiol Cruz, who was taking his horse through its own morning exercise routine. 

Accessorizing collided with Glitter Cat. Cruz was thrown to the ground and injured. The clocker had sounded the loose horse alert. Cruz was loaded into an ambulance and taken to a local hospital. Martins was roughed up but did not require a trip to the ER. Remarkably, neither Accessorizing nor Glitter Cat sustained serious injuries. 

The Lawsuit

On July 2, 2018, Civilo Cruz filed a civil lawsuit. The suit named the track, the training business, the owner/trainer, and Marcelle Martins as defendants. Cruz alleged in his complaint that the owner of the track failed to provide adequate safety precautions and protections. He also alleged that the existing safety systems, including the loose horse siren, failed to function properly. Cruz further alleged that, as owner/trainers, the Lauers knowingly allowed an unqualified employee to ride a dangerous horse, consciously putting others at risk. Finally, Cruz claimed Marcelle Martins was an unqualified exercise rider who had acted recklessly by losing control of her mount. …

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Rising from the ashes - Will racing at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Arizona resume?

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From the Ashes?Article by Annie LambertTurf Paradise, in Phoenix, Ariz., normally runs one of the longest race meets in the country—late October through early May. The COVID-19 pandemic, among other suspected culprits, has closed the track. Sadly, there is a chance the Phoenix icon may never mythically rise from the ashes.Turf Paradise horsemen were notably shell-shocked by the abrupt shutdown of the year-around training and racing facility. Owned by Jerry Simms for the past 20 years, Turf Paradise has been in operation since 1956 and was the first organized professional sport franchise in the state. Trainers, track workers, jockeys and even horse owners and breeders have established residences in the area, with children in schools and year-around businesses associated with the racing life.Skeptics immediately challenged the notion that COVID-19 was the only, or even the main, reason for shutting down Turf Paradise and turning so many lives toward an uncertain future. Some horsemen have called the track home for decades, and pandemic restrictions along with no clear answers coming from track management have their lives in limbo.Joyce Long, 82, trained a small stable at Turf Paradise for 30 years, relishing the people and the lifestyle there. Track management shutting down the track, she implied, was devastating for everyone.“Turf Paradise was such a wonderful place,” Long explained, speaking in the past tense. “There were so many people that depended on it; they would come in here from all over. Sure, the purses weren’t as big as some places, but you could make a living here.”But wait, the Arizona desert sands are shifting between racing and no racing nearly daily as Turf Paradise, Arizona Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, Arizona Downs and other racing entities wrangle to reach sophisticated agreements that ensure live racing in 2021 and hopefully beyond.Pack Up, Get OutOn March 15,2020, Turf Paradise management suddenly canceled the remainder of their 2020-2021 race meet. There was no approval to do so by Arizona’s racing regulators, nor were horsemen consulted regarding the issue.Horses were not allowed to train as of March 16, with the stable area completely shut down on March 28. Trainers were told to remove all their belongings including corrals and hot walkers. The abrupt closure by Turf Paradise’s ownership and management left horsemen with no place to go. Due to pandemic regulations, trainers had no options to move their stables to other tracks. And, the track’s large Canadian contingency, which is about 30 percent of the horses, could not return to Canada due to border closures.The Arizona Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, led by President Robert Hutton, opposed the shutdown. Without trivializing the seriousness of COVID-19, the AHBPA pointed out how major tracks across the country were able to safely allow horses to train and run meets, albeit without spectators.Turf Paradise might have been strictly adhering to CDC guidelines when stopping racing and training, yet management opted to keep OTBs open for simulcasting. This did not sit well with horsemen who quietly suspected Simms was planning to sell the property to developers.Negotiations & ArbitrationsThere is a whole lot more to the Arizona racing story than a bad flu bug pandemic, however. The ongoing “discussion” between Turf Paradise management and the AHBPA is no doubt front and center. Control of purse money generated by OTBs and live racing mixed with signal disputes has everyone shaking heads, or wringing their hands. It seems a confusing mess.When the AHBPA’s contract with Turf Paradise was ending in 2019, Hutton called around the country to different jurisdictions looking for options to negotiate a better deal with Simms. Horsemen were contributing half of the $800,000 annual advertising expenses. In renegotiations the horsemen’s costs were lowered to $150,000.“I wanted to see invoices [regarding the expenses] because there was an obvious discrepancy as to how the track was being maintained and promoted; I had issues with that and so did my board members,” Hutton pointed out. “The other big issue was at the OTBs where [the track] was getting 60 percent and horsemen 40 percent. We felt that was not fair and equitable, especially when at the racetrack it was 50/50. It seemed people were being driven away from the racetrack to go to the OTBs—60/40 at OTB compared to 50/50 at the track; the math is pretty easy to do. It was not to our advantage.”“We negotiated to 52/48, and it was acknowledged in arbitration that the HBPA has a right to have their own bank account with the purse money and we get to control it,” he added. “Both parties agreed.”In February of this year, Hutton and three of his board members met with the Thoroughbred Owners of California to discuss fairness in simulcast signals, a confusing subject at best. Legislatively, California doesn’t pay more than three percent for an out-of-state signal coming into their state, according to Hutton. Contrarily, Turf Paradise’s takeout was 23 percent. Horsemen in California were splitting up 20 percent, and horsemen in Arizona were splitting up three percent.“I told Jerry [Simms], ‘This isn’t right,’” Hutton said. “‘We’re going to cut off the signal from Turf Paradise going outward to any of the Monarch/Stronich tracks.’ “Two or three days later, Mr. Simms announced the closing of the meet by March 14th and that the horsemen had two weeks to get out with no exercising of horses.”With empathy for equine health and safety, the HBPA negotiated a settlement agreement that horsemen would pay for half the training as far as maintenance of the track and other expenses pertinent to operating the track for training only. The agreement lasted through May 10 when, fortunately, Canterbury Park and a few other tracks began accepting horses again. Many horsemen were still left without a destination.Hutton was trying to decide what to do with a barn area full of horses, limited training and a track owner flip-flopping on training and racing dates.“I told the [HBPA] members that I didn’t think Simms was ever going to run again,” Hutton said. “After a meeting he said he’d open September 1st for training and November 1st to race. I think he kept changing the dates because in the settlement agreement he had, his network of OTBs would only get the signals from out-of-state tracks through January 1.”Hutton wrote Simms a letter asking 17 questions, one of the most pertinent being: “What guarantee will there be that you will not evict horsemen off the track?” Simms offered no guarantees. At an August 8 commission meeting, track management declared they were not interested in any race days. They then proceeded to sell the air conditioner and all furniture out of the clubhouse and took all the pictures off the walls, according to Hutton and others.“I mean, the place is an absolute ghost town,” Hutton opined. “It looks like something you’d find in a documentary on Afghanistan. There is no intention of ever running a race at Turf Paradise again.”Hold Your HorsesWonders never cease, however. On September 24, via the Turf Paradise Facebook page, General Manager Vincent Francia announced the track had submitted live racing dates for an 84-day winter meet (January 2 through May 1, 2021) to the Racing Commission for consideration of approval during their October 8 meeting.Francia did stipulate: “First, the $2.1 million that the AHBPA transferred out of the Turf Paradise Horsemen’s account into an AHBPA account must be returned to the horsemen’s purse account at Turf.”The AHBPA leadership, the notice reminded, is on public record as saying whoever is running live gets the money. “Keep in mind,” they added, “that $2.1 million does not belong to the AHBPA or to Turf Paradise.” “That money belongs to the horsemen who would run live at Turf Paradise.”According to Francia, when the $2.1 million is back in the horsemen’s account and the projected $1 million generated in current OTB accumulation between now and December 31, added to the purse monies generated during the proposed live race meet; Turf Paradise will be able to offer the horsemen a 25-percent purse increase for the proposed race meet—an amount of $80,000 to $100,000 daily.The second condition: the AHBPA approves simulcasting for both export (Turf Paradise’s signal being sent to other race tracks for wagering); and import (bringing in other race track signals for wagering) must be approved through May 31, 2021.Turf Paradise advised in their September 24 announcement: “Those approvals are essential in order to continue generating money into the purse account, and we simply cannot conduct a live race meet with AHBPA constantly threatening to withdraw those approvals.”The track stated their two conditions were reasonable as was “offering the Arizona horsemen a live race meet.” Track management also pointed out the challenges they will face, having to take certain action and following protocols dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.Since the Turf Paradise proposed racing dates were announced, ADOR Racing Director Rudy Casillas has advised the track that AHBPA is “willing to make only weekly payments.”“Turf horsemen conduct business daily with the Horsemen’s Bookkeeper,” management stated. “As an example, if a horseman wanted to withdraw money from his/her account under Mr. Hutton’s plan, they would have to wait a week until the funds are deposited.”Details & DelaysWhile Turf Paradise management laid out stringent requirements for an agreement with AHBPA, Hutton also stayed steady. Representing the AHBPA, Hutton responded via letter to Francia. Hutton agreed to Francia’s request for a winter meet.Hutton did not agree to a new AHBPA board of directors, but rather that he left the horsemen’s choices of leadership to their discretion. He also requested that Simms honor the agreement, giving control of the horsemen’s purse account to the AHBPA.It was also demanded that the track and all facilities be brought up to standard for safe conditions for humans and horses.“Right now, the main track, the turf track and the training track are not fit to run on,” Hutton wrote. “The backside is full of trenches, power boxes with wires exposed, and the roads and bridle path are in terrible condition. The barns are, as always, dilapidated.”When the Arizona Racing Commission met October 8, the agenda included the possible approval of the Turf Paradise 2021 winter meet dates. Stipulations were discussed regarding those dates. There was concern that safety protocols were in place, providing for a safe environment for horses and people. It was believed that maintenance equipment had been sold off.Francia guaranteed that essential equipment such as tractors, water trucks and ambulances were on site.Turf Paradise representatives requested a reduction in the minimum number of live racing dates as required by law to operate their OTBs due to the current state and federal emergency declarations of the COVID-19 pandemic.Also important for the commissioner’s consideration were simulcast agreements between The Stronach Group’s Monarch Content Management and Arizona Downs, located in Prescott Valley, as well as Monarch’s agreement with Turf Paradise.Monarch negotiates simulcast contracts on behalf of Stronach tracks Pimlico, Laurel Park, Gulfstream Park, Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields. They are charged with the same duties for Monmouth Park, Tampa Bay Downs and Del Mar.Arizona Downs has had an ongoing feud with Monarch since their reopening in May 2019. Formerly operated as Yavapai Downs, the track feels it is subjected to different rules than Turf Paradise. The commission unanimously voted for a special hearing to settle all of the Monarch contract issues.Will all the parties involved find common ground? After months of hardball negotiations, it is hard to say.“I’m an eternal optimist,” Francia offered. “It would be a tremendous help to the Arizona horse owners—the people who both race in state and those who come from out of state—to have this meet and get some revenue into their operations.”Horsemen are hoping for the Turf Paradise they remember from her grand past to rise from the ashes, but only time will tell.Side Bar 1 of 1Upgrades, Repairs, Safety?Image 1: The stable area electrical grid remains in ill repair, with poor lighting creating safety violations for early morning workers.Image 2 & Image 3: A water main rupture in the stable area flooded out several barns. The rupture caused horsemen to hand water horses from a single water source for an extended time when repairs were not made in a timely manner.(Photos provided anonymously.)Turf Paradise is regulated by the Arizona Racing Commission as set out in Section A of R19-2-104 under Permittee Responsibilities: “A permittee shall maintain the grounds in a neat, clean and safe condition. If a steward determines that a permittee is not in compliance with this Section, the steward shall require that the permittee immediately bring the grounds into compliance.”According to long-time racetrack employees and horsemen making a living at the Phoenix track, the backside has been in disrepair and in need of repairs and/or upgrading for many years. Why stewards have not required track owner Jerry Simms to make these repairs has never been answered.Horsemen working on the backside of Turf Paradise repeat the same story of a once pristine stable area that has fallen into disarray over it’s 70-year history. Current owner Jerry Simms has made no recent improvements to the track he has owned for 20 years. Horsemen willing to speak asked to do so “off the record,” seeming to fear repercussions from management.There is a “failure to regulate,” the horsemen agreed. Regulators have ignored the deterioration of the barns, including water and electrical infrastructures. Both human and equines have been subjected to “deplorable conditions,” according to one backside worker.During an October 8, 2020, Arizona Racing Commission meeting, Turf Paradise requested an 84-day racing meet from January 2 to May 1, 2021. Approval for the proposed winter meet was pushed until involved parties reached an agreement.Will management improve conditions on both the backside and front side of Turf Paradise in their new racing agreement? One of the main stipulations is that the track would be safe for people and horses before the start of the proposed meet. CAPTIONS: (All photos by Shawn Coady Photography)#Scenics 011120 01> The starting gate at Turf Paradise has been collecting dust since the track closed to live racing last March.# Scenics 011120 12> During its heyday, Turf Paradise was known for its beautiful infield, complete with live flamingos cooling in an oasis of ponds.# Scenics 011120 07> The desert track, which opened in 1956 as the first organized professional sports franchise in Arizona, has since added a turf course.# Scenics 011120 13> Despite smaller purses than larger tracks, horsemen training and racing at the facility can make a living and have settled into the local community.# Scenics 011120 03> Snowbirds spending the mild desert winters near Phoenix enjoy live racing as they help increase track handle.# Scenics 011120 11> After being closed since 2010, Arizona Downs reopened last year only to be shut down a few months later due to an unforeseen pandemic and politics.

By Annie Lambert

Turf Paradise, in Phoenix, Ariz., normally runs one of the longest race meets in the country—late October through early May. The COVID-19 pandemic, among other suspected culprits, has closed the track. Sadly, there is a chance the Phoenix icon may never mythically rise from the ashes.

Turf Paradise horsemen were notably shell-shocked by the abrupt shutdown of the year-around training and racing facility. Owned by Jerry Simms for the past 20 years, Turf Paradise has been in operation since 1956 and was the first organized professional sport franchise in the state. Trainers, track workers, jockeys and even horse owners and breeders have established residences in the area, with children in schools and year-around businesses associated with the racing life.

Skeptics immediately challenged the notion that COVID-19 was the only, or even the main, reason for shutting down Turf Paradise and turning so many lives toward an uncertain future. Some horsemen have called the track home for decades, and pandemic restrictions along with no clear answers coming from track management have their lives in limbo.

Joyce Long, 82, trained a small stable at Turf Paradise for 30 years, relishing the people and the lifestyle there. Track management shutting down the track, she implied, was devastating for everyone.

“Turf Paradise was such a wonderful place,” Long explained, speaking in the past tense. “There were so many people that depended on it; they would come in here from all over. Sure, the purses weren’t as big as some places, but you could make a living here.”

The desert track, which opened in 1956 as the first organized professional sports franchise in Arizona, has since added a turf course.

The desert track, which opened in 1956 as the first organized professional sports franchise in Arizona, has since added a turf course.

But wait, the Arizona desert sands are shifting between racing and no racing nearly daily as Turf Paradise, Arizona Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, Arizona Downs and other racing entities wrangle to reach sophisticated agreements that ensure live racing in 2021 and hopefully beyond. 

Pack Up, Get Out

On March 15,2020, Turf Paradise management suddenly canceled the remainder of their 2020-2021 race meet. There was no approval to do so by Arizona’s racing regulators, nor were horsemen consulted regarding the issue.

Horses were not allowed to train as of March 16, with the stable area completely shut down on March 28. Trainers were told to remove all their belongings including corrals and hot walkers. The abrupt closure by Turf Paradise’s ownership and management left horsemen with no place to go. Due to pandemic regulations, trainers had no options to move their stables to other tracks. And, the track’s large Canadian contingency, which is about 30 percent of the horses, could not return to Canada due to border closures.

The Arizona Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, led by President Robert Hutton, opposed the shutdown. Without trivializing the seriousness of COVID-19, the AHBPA pointed out how major tracks across the country were able to safely allow horses to train and run meets, albeit without spectators.

Turf Paradise’s stable area completely shut down on March 28. Trainers were told to remove all their belongings including corrals and hot walkers. The abrupt closure left horsemen with no place to go.

Turf Paradise’s stable area completely shut down on March 28. Trainers were told to remove all their belongings including corrals and hot walkers. The abrupt closure left horsemen with no place to go.

Turf Paradise might have been strictly adhering to CDC guidelines when stopping racing and training, yet management opted to keep OTBs open for simulcasting. This did not sit well with horsemen who quietly suspected Simms was planning to sell the property to developers.

Negotiations & Arbitrations

There is a whole lot more to the Arizona racing story than a bad flu bug pandemic, however. …

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Sales protocol after COVID-19

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Amid COVID-19, A Widespread Move to Adapt Online Bidding at Salesby Jeff LoweAdapting to the new world with COVID-19 has led to a rapid integration of online bidding for Thoroughbred auctions across North America, presenting sale companies and consignors with a new challenge to supply potential buyers with enough information and technology for them to feel comfortable making a winning bid from afar.Keeneland, Fasig-Tipton and Ocala Breeders' Sale Co. (OBS) all added online bidding platforms by the time the sales calendar relaunched this summer after more than two months of dormancy, with sales either canceled or postponed during the height of pandemic restrictions in April and May. Regional sales scheduled for later in the year in Ohio and Ontario also moved toward a more flexible format with the option of online bidding.OBS was the guinea pig on two fronts amid COVID-19's impact. The sale company pushed forward with the OBS March sale of two-year-olds in training on March 17 and 18, which was right in the middle of lockdown announcements and steep stock market declines. The sale company did not yet have online bidding capabilities, but that would change by the time the OBS spring sale of two-year-olds in training took place from June 9-12."We had a couple of months between sales to get the technology up and running for online bidding and it sure seemed necessary," OBS Sales Director Tod Wojciechowski said. "In the March sale, we just needed to get through it and do what we could to move horses along during a very tumultuous time, and then regroup for the sales this summer. COVID-19 was certainly a catalyst to bringing online bidding to market quicker. We had talked about doing it previously but with the pandemic, we felt we needed to get it up and running as quickly as we could."OBS relied on Xcira, a Tampa-based provider of auction software and technologies, to introduce online bidding functions to the OBSSale.com website in time for the spring sale. As it turned out, that sale occurred just as many COVID-19-related restrictions were being lifted."We had a boost in buyer attendance from the timing there, but then in July we were back with the sale coming up when there was a big spike around us in COVID cases, and online bidding helped fill that gap in attendance," Wojciechowski said.Of the 517 horses that changed hands in the July sale, 72 of them (14 percent) were sold through online bidding.Fasig-Tipton also made a quick move to online bidding for its revised auction calendar, beginning with the Midlantic two-year-olds in training sale in Timonium, Maryland, on June 29 and 30 (with Fasig-Tipton reporting 15 horses were sold online) and continuing with an even greater emphasis on a remote marketplace in the July horses of racing age sale.This was the eighth edition of the July horses of racing age sale and the first time it was conducted without an accompanying yearling sale. According to Fasig-Tipton CEO Boyd Browning, more than 100 people registered to make online bids for the sale, and 45 of them followed through with submitting bids. Seven horses were sold to online bidders."With everything else going on in the world, we were certainly glad we added that capability for buyers to participate," Browning said. "In addition to the horses who sold to online bidders, those buyers also were immediate underbidders and second underbidders in a number of cases. There was an activity at all levels and all price ranges too."A horses of racing age sale lends itself to online bidding; buyers can see past performances and past races and they have a lot to go on. We'll be moving into the yearling sales and that's a little different. We'll be providing walking videos for every horse that the consignors want to do it. We'll be strongly encouraging them to do it. We'll work with them to provide the services ourselves or provide a stipend if they want to use their own vendor."Keeneland took online sale capabilities one step further by adding a new Digital Sales Ring platform that debuted on June 23 with a horses of racing age sale that was conducted entirely online, with technology developed by Horseco. Only 12 of the 38 horses cataloged changed hands, with a filly named Trapezium selling from Juddmonte Farms' consignment to St. Elias Stable for $327,000 as the top price.Keeneland officials are planning to add new online and phone bidding technology to the traditional live sale formats for the Keeneland September yearling sale and November breeding stock sales this fall, especially in light of international travel restrictions. Still, Keeneland does hope to have some international buyers in attendance.“While Keeneland is excited to unveil our full portfolio of remote bidding options, we continue to work closely with state and federal government officials, including representatives of both Senator Mitch McConnell and Congressman Andy Barr, to seek exceptions to allow international travelers to attend the September Sale,” said Shannon Bishop Arvin, who is serving as Keeneland’s acting head of sales through the end of the year before she formally succeeds Bill Thomason as CEO and president. “Just as we have done for 80-plus years, Keeneland will exhaust every measure possible to bring the world to Keeneland.”Sale leaders in Ohio, Ontario and Washington state also made quick strides to add online bidding technology as contingency options for sales late summer and fall, with no certainty of whether or not COVID-19 would dissuade buyers from traveling and attending at that time.The Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society has its annual Canadian premier yearling sale scheduled for September 2 at Woodbine."We are going to go forward as if everything is going be normal other than health protocols developed with Woodbine, but we are also going to make plans to have online and phone bidding," said Dermot Carty, national director for the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society and long-time sales director for the Stronach family's Adena Springs. "Having said that, if it becomes necessary to change the date to later in September or into October, we wouldn't be against that either."Reason being is, frankly, I wouldn't buy a horse that I just saw on a video; and I've been buying horses for close to 50 years now. It's like online dating: you get a lot of pictures, but then you get a big surprise when you show up. Right? Not that I have ever done that, but when you're looking at livestock, that's something that technology can't give you. Videos can't produce what it is like looking at a horse in person. They've tried and tried for years in the United Kingdom and I know it's been done just recently in Australia, but it still doesn't beat the real thing. You have to look at the whole horse, and that includes his attitude, how he reacts toward people, what he actually physically walks like. So it does have its limitations."The Ohio Thoroughbred Sale was already scheduled for a venue change in 2020, with the sale moving to the central part of the state at the Delaware County Fairgrounds—the site of the Little Brown Jug harness racing classic. The mixed sale will be held on October 15 and with online bidding technology provided by the auction house RES Auction Services of Wooster, Ohio."We had already decided to bring them on as the new auctioneer for the sale, and them having that kind of technology is only going to help us this year especially," said Daryl Duncan, sale committee chairman for the Ohio Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders. "As long as Ohio is racing at that time, the sale will be a 'go.' Like everything else this year, who knows what things will be like then, but we will be ready to have a sale."The Washington Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association conducted its annual Washington Thoroughbred sale on August 18 in Auburn. The sale pavilion is adjacent to Emerald Downs, and that proximity, as well as the advent of phone and online bidding, allowed the sale to take place amid tight caps from the state government on the number of people allowed to gather indoors.“We’ve been in Phase Two, which only allows 15 people to gather, so the only way we could have this sale is with people bidding from afar, whether that’s on the phone or online or even from the grandstand at Emerald Downs, where they could really space out,” said the WTOBA’s Susan van Dyke. “We did end up with more yearlings than usual for this year’s sale; it’s important for our breeders—just a matter of making do, making it happen.”

By Jeff Lowe

Adapting to the new world with COVID-19 has led to a rapid integration of online bidding for Thoroughbred auctions across North America, presenting sale companies and consignors with a new challenge to supply potential buyers with enough information and technology for them to feel comfortable making a winning bid from afar. 

Keeneland, Fasig-Tipton and Ocala Breeders' Sale Co. (OBS) all added online bidding platforms by the time the sales calendar relaunched this summer after more than two months of dormancy, with sales either canceled or postponed during the height of pandemic restrictions in April and May. Regional sales scheduled for later in the year in Ohio and Ontario also moved toward a more flexible format with the option of online bidding. 

Clerk at OBS Jul 2020 (1).jpg

OBS was the guinea pig on two fronts amid COVID-19's impact. The sale company pushed forward with the OBS March sale of two-year-olds in training on March 17 and 18, which was right in the middle of lockdown announcements and steep stock market declines. The sale company did not yet have online bidding capabilities, but that would change by the time the OBS spring sale of two-year-olds in training took place from June 9-12. 

"We had a couple of months between sales to get the technology up and running for online bidding and it sure seemed necessary," OBS Sales Director Tod Wojciechowski said. "In the March sale, we just needed to get through it and do what we could to move horses along during a very tumultuous time, and then regroup for the sales this summer. COVID-19 was certainly a catalyst to bringing online bidding to market quicker. We had talked about doing it previously but with the pandemic, we felt we needed to get it up and running as quickly as we could." 

Xcira-OnlineRingman-Livestock-RGB (1) (1).png

OBS relied on Xcira, a Tampa-based provider of auction software and technologies, to introduce online bidding functions to the OBSSale.com website in time for the spring sale. As it turned out, that sale occurred just as many COVID-19-related restrictions were being lifted. 

"We had a boost in buyer attendance from the timing there, but then in July we were back with the sale coming up when there was a big spike around us in COVID cases, and online bidding helped fill that gap in attendance," Wojciechowski said. 

Of the 517 horses that changed hands in the July sale, 72 of them (14 percent) were sold through online bidding. 

Fasig-Tipton also made a quick move to online bidding for its revised auction calendar, beginning with the Midlantic two-year-olds in training sale in Timonium, Maryland, on June 29 and 30 (with Fasig-Tipton reporting 15 horses were sold online) and continuing with an even greater emphasis on a remote marketplace in the July horses of racing age sale. 

Fasig-Tipton’s coronavirus protocols and precautions in place.

Fasig-Tipton’s coronavirus protocols and precautions in place.

This was the eighth edition of the July horses of racing age sale and the first time it was conducted without an accompanying yearling sale. According to Fasig-Tipton CEO Boyd Browning, more than 100 people registered to make online bids for the sale, and 45 of them followed through with submitting bids. Seven horses were sold to online bidders. 

"With everything else going on in the world, we were certainly glad we added that capability for buyers to participate," Browning said. "In addition to the horses who sold to online bidders, those buyers also were immediate underbidders and second underbidders in a number of cases. There was an activity at all levels and all price ranges too.

FTCO_REVERSE_2_SHOT (1).jpg

"A horses of racing age sale lends itself to online bidding; buyers can see past performances and past races and they have a lot to go on. We'll be moving into the yearling sales and that's a little different. We'll be providing walking videos for every horse that the consignors want to do it. We'll be strongly encouraging them to do it. We'll work with them to provide the services ourselves or provide a stipend if they want to use their own vendor." 

Keeneland took online sale capabilities one step further by adding a new Digital Sales Ring platform that debuted on June 23 with a horses of racing age sale that was conducted entirely online, with technology developed by Horseco. Only 12 of the 38 horses cataloged changed hands, with a filly named Trapezium selling from Juddmonte Farms' consignment to St. Elias Stable for $327,000 as the top price. 

Keeneland officials are planning to add new online and phone bidding technology to the traditional live sale formats for the Keeneland September yearling sale and November breeding stock sales this fall, especially in light of international travel restrictions. Still, Keeneland does hope to have some international buyers in attendance. …

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Shrewd moves - in the sales ring - Adrian Gonzalez -high-end bloodstock at public auction - strategies for buying and selling at the yearling sales

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Buying and selling high-end bloodstock at public auction takes preparation, serious due diligence, lots of passion and a dose of luck.Article by Annie LambertBloodstock agents all have a formula, a routine, pedigree preferences and conformation predilections, which must be weighed against current market conditions and trends as they approach every sale.Whether you are purchasing horses for resale, to race or breeding stock, buying (or selling) Thoroughbreds is an intense business. Choosing the right weanling or yearling to pinhook is every bit as precarious as picking the right 2-year-old to run.Adrian Gonzalez, founder of Checkmate Thoroughbreds, is no exception. The 41-year-old horseman was not born into a family with deep equine ties or historic roots. He does, however, have a family story that reads something like a cold war novel.Gonzalez’s grandfather, Roberto, was a Cuban orphan raised in the government system and became an Olympic-caliber gymnast. Roberto was a member of the Cuban National Olympic Gymnastics Team during the Pan American Games in Guatemala City, Guatemala. During the competition he met his future wife (a student at the university where the games were held), defected from Cuba and started a family. When Gonzalez’s father Erick was 12, the family immigrated to the United States.Adrian grew up around backyard horses in a small northern California town. While obtaining a degree in animal science at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, he paid his bills by breaking yearlings at Cardiff Stud. Team roping and cowboying on a 23,000-acre cattle ranch may not have prepared the young Gonzalez for his first foyer into Thoroughbred racing.“The first morning I walked into the tack room and there are only flat saddle—English tack,” he recalled with a chuckle, shaking his head. “I honestly didn’t even know how to tack them up, but the guys showed me.”Cardiff was sold to game show host Alex Trebek, who changed the name to Creston Farms and focused solely on breeding. Gonzalez hung up his tack and became a stallion groom and later stallion manager. His wealth of experience in the industry continued to grow.“When the breeding season ended I switched gears and focused on the development and growth of weanlings and yearlings,” Gonzalez explained. “I became enchanted by the Thoroughbred business and put all my focus into figuring out how I could do this for a living.”Pedigrees Are PersonalGonzalez did figure out how to build the Thoroughbred industry into a career. When Creston Farms was sold again and became the short-lived Windfall Farms, he seized on the demise of Windfall, leased a portion of that farm and started his own bloodstock business. Checkmate Thoroughbreds came to light in 2005. In 2013, Checkmate moved to its current 66-acres in nearby Parkfield.During those early years Gonzalez dove into operating a training facility, breaking yearlings, foaling mares and offering sales consignments. When he and his wife Erin (who has an agricultural business degree) analyzed their large cash flow, they found the actual profit margin boiled down to a couple well-sold sale horses.“It happened that we were profiting on one or two horses that we came up with ourselves,” said Gonzalez with a laugh. “We could have had just those few horses instead of the hundreds of others. Slowly we phased down on the breaking and training to focus on the sales—the pinhooking side of it.”Personal preferences in bloodlines as well as following industry trends are not unique. Prior to readily available online statistics, Gonzalez researched and put together spreadsheets to assist his pinhooking selections. Choosing horses for resale is easier these days, but it is easier for everyone.“When the catalog comes out, I do a lot of research,” Gonzalez explained. “Blood-Horse puts out a valuable tool called The Auction Edge. It shows the history for every horse in the family, what they sold for, which are not on the regular auction page. This past November we bought an inexpensive weanling by Overanalyze for $2,500.“There wasn’t much black type on the catalog page, but with a little research in Auction Edge you could see that there was an Uncle Mo 2-year-old half-sibling that had just sold at [Ocala Breeder’s Sale] March for $525,000. Knowing that there was the potential for a big pedigree update will help increase the value of your horse without you having to actually do anything to the horse.“Coincidentally, a few months after we bought that baby the Uncle Mo filly won her first two starts in Japan by a combined 20-length margin. After that the phone was ringing off the hook, and we sold it privately for a whole lot of money.”Gonzalez pointed out that is one reason he spends more time digging through the sales results of the families than looking at the black type on the catalog pages. The pre-sale diligence can also expose a negative. For example, you may find a half-sibling to a bunch of horses by top sires that all sold “terribly cheap.” That tells you the mare produces terrible sales horses.“Since I’m not doing this to find a race horse,” the agent reminded, “those sales numbers are super important for me to have.”The Conformation CoupOnce at the sale, Gonzalez follows his prospect list to search for bargains. He doesn’t want to pay retail for a pinhook.“I want to find something with all the parts, but not necessarily put together yet,” he said. “I want to see good length of bone, meaning the horse is going to grow to have substantial size. I’m not too concerned with how heavily muscled a weanling is at this point; I’ve made the mistake of buying heavy muscled weanlings and get them home to realize they were slowing down in their growth height, and that’s why they were filling in.”Because Gonzalez shoes and trims his own horses, he usually begins appraising an individual’s conformation at their feet, especially on a weanling. (Shoeing photo)“If a weanling doesn’t have a very good walk, it’s not carrying itself well, or is stiff behind, generally that’s starting at the feet,” he pointed out. “I try to evaluate the growth stage they’re in. I’m not trying to find the perfect horse; I’m trying to find something I can improve.”For example, Gonzalez prefers a weanling that toes out some over one that stands perfectly correct, citing that as those colts mature and their chests widen, they will be inclined to toe in.“If you were to see the front end of some weanlings the day I buy them, you’d probably deem those horses a little too crooked,” he said. “If they grow the way we hope they do, they will be just right when we go to sell them as yearlings. We’ll help that along with how we trim those feet and how we feed the horse.”Gonzalez puts an emphasis on the gaskin when scrutinizing the hind leg, calling it the “speed and power muscle.” He doesn’t agree that speed comes from the hip and jokes about there being a “lot of big hips out there, but not a lot of talent.”“If you have a big hip and just kind of a scrawny leg coming down below that, it’s just fool’s gold,” he opined. “You’re going to get a heavy muscled horse with no speed and no power. So the gaskin and the forearm are muscle types that develop really early, and I can identify that the horse is going to have some speed.”The shoulder should be at a 45-degree angle, which should have a matching angle at the pastern. Gonzalez may attribute a “funky” pastern angle to feet that are not properly trimmed or the stage of growth.“Looking at a long, sloping 45-degree shoulder angle, I’m hoping I can tell how this horse is going to move just by seeing it stand there,” said Gonzalez. “If all the parts are balanced and at the correct angle we’re looking for, then when they walk off, they should have that stride we’re looking for. Generally you can see it there in a picture before you need to see it in motion, which is our reassurance.”“I don’t have the budget to buy the perfect horse—the show stopper—at the sale.” “I want to resell the perfect horse,” Gonzalez concluded.Walk the WalkWeanlings and yearlings get walked and viewed at sales because it is the only test that may predict their athleticism down the road. The walk is probably the single most critiqued evaluation a horse goes through at a sale.“That’s because we can’t just turn them loose and watch them run. The best we can do is have them walk up and back 50 feet and attempt to determine how this horse can run at a mile and a quarter,” quipped Gonzalez.In addition to overall athleticism, buyers are looking for a walk to show stride efficiency and stride length. In theory, a longer stride length at a walk should equal a longer stride at full speed.Gonzalez noted that he sold his Eurociser when he observed his horses shortened their stride to back off the gates. They also kept their heads elevated, which hollowed out their backs and disengaged their hindquarters, also shortening the stride.“Pretty much we hand walk our horses,” Gonzalez explained. “It is incredibly labor intensive because we are walking each horse two miles a day. But they are learning so much about manners—learning to respect a handler, and they go on to show so much better at the sale.”Horses that engage their hindquarters, lengthening their stride, exhibit their drive power behind with a larger overstride. The overstride being the hind foot reaching and planting beyond the hoof print left by the front foot.“With a short walking horse, the hind foot will step in the same spot its front foot just came out of or less,” said Gonzalez. “A big walking horse will overstride a foot or 18 inches. At the run, that translates into power from the back end.”An interesting perception by Gonzalez on watching 2-year-olds in training is that buyers seem to value the faster works over the longer walk.“These fast horses at the training sales...if they are fast and have a big stride, great,” he observed. “They should bring a lot of money, but there are so many that are fast at an eighth of a mile and still very short strided. I think people overlook the walk at the 2-year-old sales because they are focused on the flashy breeze times.”Buy, Sell, PassGonzalez likes to find a horse that has all the parts in all the right places but doesn’t have a great walk. Often, he feels, these individuals can be improved by the time he sells them.“You can find horses that don’t have a good walk, but you can help develop their muscles and develop their behavior to have a good walk. That’s part of our pinhooking strategy.”There are some conformation issues, however, that he cannot gamble on. Clubfeet are most likely a pass. Small horses don’t get much attention from Gonzalez either. The smaller horses can be purchased for a discount but are usually discounted when resold as well.Those that are too upright, too straight in the pasterns and even through the knees, and those over in the knees are also avoided by Gonzalez. Some of his best pinhooks were individuals that were “beat up” price wise for being too long and too low in the pasterns.“That type of horse can have a really, really big walk on them,” he noted. “I’ve seen horses whose pasterns are deemed low that eventually grow up into them and appear normal. The ones that are really upright and straight just get worse. I’ve been stung before thinking they’ll improve, but they’ve always gotten worse.”Like every other agent, Gonzalez has his personal preferences on pedigrees and conformation, but he always works on keeping an open mind toward expanding his knowledge.“I don’t try to convince myself that I can’t afford a certain family,” he explained. “I’ll still look at something by the top sire; I also don’t want to rule out something that would be by what some consider a cold sire.”Gonzalez is also open-minded about the vetting process. He is not looking for horses that will not pass the veterinary exam, but he does look for those that might suffer a significant discount on their sale price due to issues in their vet reports.“The vetting is hard,” he conceded. “I guess if I like the horse, I buy it. I don’t let the vets talk me out of a horse anymore. I used to have my Top-10 list of horses, I’d vet them and none would pass. Then I’d go back through my list and I’d buy what would be my eleventh favorite horse, or the one who passed the vet exam.“Looking back, the majority of those 10 I liked went on to be successful, and I ended up with a perfectly clean horse with no talent. I would have done better buying something with a little vet issue that was just a better horse. That’s what has worked for us.”According to Gonzalez, it isn’t just finding the right horse to pinhook; it is also having the foresight to know where the best resale market is to maximize the profit. “We have to evaluate the market in advance,” he said. “I’ll sometimes like a horse, but it just doesn’t fit any sale I could take it to. It’s going to cost a little too much for X sale, and it’s not quite enough horse for Y sale. It wasn’t that we didn’t like the horse; it just didn’t fit our markets.”Checkmate Thoroughbreds has had many well-sold horses. For example, the first year they decided to pinhook weanlings, the three they flipped were wise choices worth the effort.“We bought three at Keeneland November,” Gonzalez confirmed. “We spent $26,500 and sold them for $145,000 and got a sale topper out of it. Those were the very first weanlings we did, so it was very reassuring that we could do this.”The best horse sold by Checkmate to date was not the best pinhooking story for Gonzalez. Spiced Perfection (2015 B M, Smiling Tiger x Perfect Feat, by Pleasantly Perfect) was purchased as a $6,500 yearling at the Barrett’s October sale. She did not reach her reserve of $50,000 at the Del Mar training sale the following summer. She was sold privately the night of the sale. Spiced Perfection did become a multiple-graded stakes winner of $1,224,705 and was twice crowned California Horse of the Year.“We have to sell runners, and people need to hear the story that they can get a Gr1 winner for $50,000,” concluded the agent. “Agents have different formulas. We all like a little bit different horse, and that’s why we can all play this game.”“We all get lucky now and then,” he added with a grin. Side Bar 1 of 1The COVID EffectPhoto #Image0,(HELMET/MASK) (Annie Lambert)The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how the world operates; the business of equine auctions is one of many industries enduring those changes to survive.Adrian Gonzalez, proprietor of Checkmate Thoroughbreds in Central California, foresees results from the upcoming 2020-2021 sales as undetermined—“a moving target.” Gonzalez, 41, frequents many auctions across the United States and deems his challenges slightly different for his roles as a buyer or seller.“As a buyer, I need to see the horses with my own eyes,” Gonzalez stated. “If the sales have restrictions where you can’t go see these horses, or they make it limited as to how you can inspect the horses, it’s going to be really hard for me to participate. So much of what I do is visual; I have to see it, and even the photos or videos don’t cut it.”The sales companies have not yet provided consignors or purchasers with a defined protocol as to how city, county and state regulations could/will dictate their restrictions. If other buyers need Gonzalez’s eyes on examinations of horses, it may cut into gross sales amounts through limited participation.At the other end of the spectrum, Gonzalez feels the sales companies have done a tremendous job of opening up the channels for buyers to purchase through online bidding. As a seller, he imagines, there could be increased action from buyers who are not able to physically attend the sale.“I’m hopeful now—as a seller—that people not having to be there in person to bid could provide more [bidding] action,” opined Gonzalez. “You don’t know how many times someone will come by my sale barn and ask to see a horse that had already sold. They had missed the sale because they were eating lunch or something. Now, if they could sit at the lunch table with their phone on the sale feed and just push ‘bid,’ it could help us bring in more money.”“I’m just not sure on the buying end,” he reiterated, “if people can’t travel to the sale, we don’t know how much that’s going to hurt.” CAPTIONS:#3001 (GONZALEZ FAMILY) Courtesy Checkmate Thoroughbreds>Adrian Gonzalez and his wife, Erin, operate their 66-acre Checkmate Thoroughbreds in Parkfield, Calif.#6285 (SPICED PERFECTION) Courtesy Checkmate Thoroughbreds>Spiced Perfection was smaller “in a plain brown wrapper” when she did not reach her reserve as a 2-year-old; the multiple-graded stakes winner ultimately earned $1,224,705.#3726 (ADRIAN SHOEING) Courtesy Checkmate Thoroughbreds>Gonzalez has honed his farrier skills to help pinhook prospects grow correctly and become improved individuals before reselling.#3072 (TOES OUT) Courtesy Checkmate Thoroughbreds > Foals that toe out will often self-correct through the legs as the narrow chests widen; proper trimming also helps Mother Nature.#8723 (GOOD CONFORMATION) Courtesy Checkmate Thoroughbreds>This filly possesses overall good conformation, according to Gonzalez’s experienced eye.#4271 (PRE SALE WALKING) Courtesy Checkmate Thoroughbreds>Checkmate sale preparations include two miles of hand walking daily, according to Gonzalez. Horses show better at the sale with the extra handling prior.#3003 (VET EXAM FAIL) Courtesy Checkmate Thoroughbreds>This short yearling failed a veterinary exam causing Gonzalez to pass on her. She was a good one that got away. “I don’t let vets talk me out of a horse anymore,” he reflected.#4622 (MALIBU MOON YEARLING) L & BARRETT’S HIP 51 R(MALIBU MOON 2YO GALLOP) Courtesy Checkmate Thoroughbreds>This pretty Malibu Moon filly was an $85,000 yearling purchased at Fasig-Tipton July and parlayed into a $240,000 resale at the Del Mar Select training sale.#OVERSTRIDE> WE WERE NOT ABLE TO GET AN IMAGE OR DRAWING OF AN OVERSTRIDE…POSSIBLY ART DEPARTMENT COULD DO???A strong sales walk lends insight into a prospect’s future prowess as a racehorse and is the single most critiqued evaluation of sale horses.#2561 & 2459 L to R (SMILING TIGER FILLY) Courtesy Checkmate Thoroughbreds>This well-balanced Smiling Tiger filly was well flipped by Checkmate, which purchased her at the CTBA January 2019 sale for $10,000. She resold for $72,000 during Fasig-Tipton September just eight months later. POSSIBLE PULL QUOTES:“I became enchanted by the Thoroughbred business and put all my focus into figuring out how I could do this for a living.”“If you have a big hip and just kind of a scrawny leg coming down below that, it’s just fool’s gold.”“So the gaskin and the forearm are muscle types that develop really early, and I can identify that the horse is going to have some speed.”“I don’t try to convince myself that I can’t afford a certain family.”“We all like a little bit different horse, and that’s why we can all play this game.”

By Annie Lambert

Bloodstock agents all have a formula, a routine, pedigree preferences and conformation predilections, which must be weighed against current market conditions and trends as they approach every sale. 

Whether you are purchasing horses for resale, to race or breeding stock, buying (or selling) Thoroughbreds is an intense business. Choosing the right weanling or yearling to pinhook is every bit as precarious as picking the right 2-year-old to run.

Adrian Gonzalez, founder of Checkmate Thoroughbreds, is no exception. The 41-year-old horseman was not born into a family with deep equine ties or historic roots. He does, however, have a family story that reads something like a cold war novel.

Gonzalez’s grandfather, Roberto, was a Cuban orphan raised in the government system and became an Olympic-caliber gymnast. Roberto was a member of the Cuban National Olympic Gymnastics Team during the Pan American Games in Guatemala City, Guatemala. During the competition he met his future wife (a student at the university where the games were held), defected from Cuba and started a family. When Gonzalez’s father Erick was 12, the family immigrated to the United States.

Adrian grew up around backyard horses in a small northern California town. While obtaining a degree in animal science at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, he paid his bills by breaking yearlings at Cardiff Stud. Team roping and cowboying on a 23,000-acre cattle ranch may not have prepared the young Gonzalez for his first foyer into Thoroughbred racing.

Checkmate sale preparations include two miles of hand walking daily, according to Gonzalez. Horses show better at the sale with the extra handling prior.

Checkmate sale preparations include two miles of hand walking daily, according to Gonzalez. Horses show better at the sale with the extra handling prior.

“The first morning I walked into the tack room and there are only flat saddle—English tack,” he recalled with a chuckle, shaking his head. “I honestly didn’t even know how to tack them up, but the guys showed me.”

Cardiff was sold to game show host Alex Trebek, who changed the name to Creston Farms and focused solely on breeding. Gonzalez hung up his tack and became a stallion groom and later stallion manager. His wealth of experience in the industry continued to grow.

“When the breeding season ended I switched gears and focused on the development and growth of weanlings and yearlings,” Gonzalez explained. “I became enchanted by the Thoroughbred business and put all my focus into figuring out how I could do this for a living.”

Pedigrees Are Personal

Gonzalez did figure out how to build the Thoroughbred industry into a career. When Creston Farms was sold again and became the short-lived Windfall Farms, he seized on the demise of Windfall, leased a portion of that farm and started his own bloodstock business. Checkmate Thoroughbreds came to light in 2005. In 2013, Checkmate moved to its current 66-acres in nearby Parkfield.

This pretty Malibu Moon filly was an $85,000 yearling purchased at Fasig-Tipton July and parlayed into a $240,000 resale at the Del Mar Select training sale (above).

This pretty Malibu Moon filly was an $85,000 yearling purchased at Fasig-Tipton July and parlayed into a $240,000 resale at the Del Mar Select training sale (above).

During those early years Gonzalez dove into operating a training facility, breaking yearlings, foaling mares and offering sales consignments. When he and his wife Erin (who has an agricultural business degree) analyzed their large cash flow, they found the actual profit margin boiled down to a couple well-sold sale horses.

“It happened that we were profiting on one or two horses that we came up with ourselves,” said Gonzalez with a laugh. “We could have had just those few horses instead of the hundreds of others. Slowly we phased down on the breaking and training to focus on the sales—the pinhooking side of it.”

Personal preferences in bloodlines as well as following industry trends are not unique. Prior to readily available online statistics, Gonzalez researched and put together spreadsheets to assist his pinhooking selections. Choosing horses for resale is easier these days, but it is easier for everyone.

“When the catalog comes out, I do a lot of research,” Gonzalez explained. “Blood-Horse puts out a valuable tool called The Auction Edge. It shows the history for every horse in the family, what they sold for, which are not on the regular auction page. This past November we bought an inexpensive weanling by Overanalyze for $2,500. 

“There wasn’t much black type on the catalog page, but with a little research in Auction Edge you could see that there was an Uncle Mo 2-year-old half-sibling that had just sold at [Ocala Breeder’s Sale] March for $525,000. Knowing that there was the potential for a big pedigree update will help increase the value of your horse without you having to actually do anything to the horse.

“Coincidentally, a few months after we bought that baby the Uncle Mo filly won her first two starts in Japan by a combined 20-length margin. After that the phone was ringing off the hook, and we sold it privately for a whole lot of money.”

Gonzalez pointed out that is one reason he spends more time digging through the sales results of the families than looking at the black type on the catalog pages. The pre-sale diligence can also expose a negative. …

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Chuck Simon has a trait that equals or surpasses his concern for horses and horsemen - it’s his penchant for storytelling

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By Charlie McCarthyIf Chuck Simon has a trait that equals or surpasses his concern for horses and horsemen, it’s his penchant for storytelling.A conversation with the former longtime trainer uncovers the time, while employed as an assistant racing secretary, he used a dead Standardbred to fill a race field.The time he got his trainer’s license without taking the required test.The time he passed through Canadian customs minus a passport.The time he trained a horse for a German spy.Those are just some of the anecdotes and stories from a 20-year training career that ended in July 2019, when Simon decided to spearhead the Gulfstream Horsemen’s Purchasing Association (GHPA), a subsidiary of the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association.The GHPA focused on supplying shavings, hay and feed at more affordable rates for horsemen at both Gulfstream Park and Palm Meadows Training Center in Boynton Beach, Fla.The hope was for revenue to support horsemen’s programs, including much-needed lobbying. But the business struggled, and then was hurt greatly by the COVID-19 pandemic.“It was a new venture, and we weren’t sure it was going to take off,” said the 52-year-old Simon, who fulfilled a one-year contract. “We were in uncharted waters.“I’m happy that I did it. I experienced something new. It was a start-up company, with bumps along the way.”This past summer, Simon began hosting a podcast named Around in Circles. While other horse racing podcasts mainly stress the game’s betting aspect, Simon and guests discuss news and issues affecting the industry.Never hesitant to express himself, Simon has many opinions on the current state and future of a sport he was introduced to as a boy in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.“When I was about seven or eight years old, my dad started bringing me to the Thoroughbred and harness tracks,” he said. “It was kind of the adult world, and I had access to it.“When you’re growing up in Saratoga, you don’t realize that everyone does not have what you have. Not every place has a racetrack right in the backyard. Not every kid has access to Affirmed and Alydar.”After graduating from high school, Simon played basketball for two years at a junior college in the Albany, N.Y. area. Then, Chuck’s father showed him a brochure for a racetrack industry program at the University of Arizona.“It showed sunny pictures, girls and horses,” Simon recalled, “I said, ‘Damn, I’m going there!”Simon arrived in Arizona, holding an advantage over many of his fellow students because he had the experience of having worked at both Saratoga-area tracks. In fact, he had dreamed of becoming a groom before his parents demanded he get a college education.“A lot of the classes at Arizona were easy because I already knew everything,” said Simon, whose classmates included Todd Pletcher. “But going there helped get me connected to people outside of my New York bubble.”While at Arizona, Simon heard from a friend, who offered a summer internship at Yonkers Raceway in N.Y. He not only took it, but within two weeks became assistant racing secretary at the age of 20.Simon went to work full-time at Yonkers upon graduation. His duties included getting horses to fill cards for six and seven days of racing.On one occasion, Simon was desperate to fill the field for a certain race. He even asked superiors if they could run a short field or if the card could be reduced. Neither option was granted.“So, I find a horse that qualified three weeks earlier at Monticello and that fit the class but didn’t race again,” said Simon, who found the trainer’s phone number and called. “The guy says, ‘You sure you’re looking for me?’ I said, ‘Yeah, you had a horse that qualified three weeks ago. Have you raced that horse back? I have a race here that fits.’”Seconds of silence followed before the man on the end said, “The filly, yeah, she passed away. She got colic.”“Well, who knows she’s dead?” Simon quickly asked.Although nobody outside the trainer’s immediate family and friends was aware the filly had died, Simon promised the man VIP treatment at Yonkers and convinced the guy to let him enter the horse at Yonkers.At the draw, the judge overseeing the process was informed the filly was scratched. “Reason?” the judge asked.“The horse is deceased,” Simon said.Tired of office work, Simon wanted to return to the backside. During a visit to Belmont, he saw Pletcher working for D. Wayne Lukas. The former classmates chatted, and within a short time Simon had joined Team Lukas.“I learned about the power of organization,” Simon said of his six months with Wayne and Jeff Lukas. “If things are organized, you can cover up a lot of the weaknesses or holes in the structure.”Simon left Lukas to work for Pete Ferriola, who was among New York’s leading trainers.“I learned a lot from Pete,” Simon said. “I learned you don’t have to train horses hard to still do well.”After that, Simon assisted Tom Skiffington.“Kind of like Christophe Clement—mostly turf, mostly Europeans,” Simon said. “I learned a lot from Tom Skiffington on being a horseman. He was an excellent horseman. He was as good a horseman as I ever saw.“What I was trying to do was get as many unique, different angles of how to do it. Lukas was a very regimented three-year-old picture. Ferriola was all claimers, all the time. Skiffington was all turf.”Although given a lot of responsibility by Skiffington, Simon moved on to work for Nick Zito for about three months.“I would have stayed with Zito,” Simon says, “but a job opened up with Jerkens, and jobs never opened up with Jerkens.”No. 4 on Zito’s staff, Simon would become the No. 2 man for Allen Jerkens behind Allen’s son Jimmy.“Nick told me, ‘Hey, it’s the chief. You gotta do what you gotta do,’” Simon said.Simon went to see Jerkens, who asked, “You work for all those fancy guys. Why do you want to work for me for?”“I said, ‘I don’t want to be a movie star; I want to be a horse trainer,’” Simon said. “He liked that.”Simon spent nearly six years working for Hall of Famer Jerkens.“He was totally different than anybody I’d ever worked for,” Simon said. “He would do things you’d never even considered, and it would make you feel stupid sometimes.“It’s funny because you look at his barn, and he never really cared about making it fancy. But people didn’t understand how much of a perfectionist he was with the horses. He had a way of looking at horses from an angle you just never considered or thought about.”Jerkens encouraged Simon to accept an opportunity to train for owner Ken Ramsey, who at the time was seeking to grow his stable.“My dad respected Chuck a lot. He’s a student of the game,” Jimmy Jerkens said. “Chuck is a handicapper at heart, and he made Dad see the importance in numbers. And he was very loyal to my dad.”Upon accepting the job as private trainer for Ramsey, Simon was told he would be needed to begin immediately. There was one problem: He didn’t have a license to train.“You were supposed to take a trainer’s test out of Kentucky, but they only gave it once a month and they had just done it,” said Simon, who explained his predicament to Dave Hicks, then steward of the New York Racing Association.Hicks asked Simon how long he had worked for Jerkens. When Simon said six years, Hicks replied, “Son, that’s test enough for me. Bring me workers’ compensation, and if three trainers sign for you, I’ll give you a license.”The three trainers: Allen Jerkens, Bill Mott and Shug McGaughey.“I was thinking, if those guys aren’t good enough...” Simon said with a laugh.Simon’s three years working for Ramsey got increasingly frustrating as some of the owners’ best horses went elsewhere.“We did really well for him, but he kind of got starstruck and wanted to send horses to this guy and that guy,” Simon said. “It kind of put us in a bit of a jam because we were getting all the bad horses.”It was while with Ramsey, Simon flew to Canada to watch one of his horses run at Woodbine.“I was in a rush to leave, and I forgot my passport,” Simon said. “The guy interviewing me at Customs asked me what I did, and I said I trained horses. The guy’s eyes lit up. ‘Standardbred or Thoroughbred?’ Turns out, he was a racing fan. He let me go through.”After a falling out with Ramsey over a horse named Nothing to Lose—Ramsey wanted the colt aimed toward the Kentucky Derby, but Simon believed he was a better turf horse—Simon went out on his own.He compiled a 359-360-332 mark in 2,679 career starts that earned more than $11 million.Simon’s most successful horse was Battle Won, a gelded son of Honour and Glory out of Call Her (Caller I.D.). The dark bay won the 2005 Churchill Downs Handicap (Gr2).“I thought Chuck was an excellent trainer,” Battle Won owner Jay Manoogian said. “As an owner, I felt he kept us well-informed of everything going on with the horse. I couldn’t ask for anything better. Sometimes you get trainers who aren’t very informative. He was very informative.”Simon said the most talented horse was Kentucky-bred Strength and Honor, a bay son of Carson City. The gelding went 9-1-4 in 22 career starts but won three straight races on two separate occasions.“He ran a 115 Beyer at Keeneland one day,” Simon recalled. “He couldn’t breathe a little bit. He had a bad hock, two knee surgeries. I could get three or four races a year out of him because he had so many issues.“If not for all the issues, he could have been a Breeders’ Cup winner—he was that talented.”Simon’s stable once included a filly prone to bleeding that had been racing in Europe and was owned by a German government official. The connections wanted the trainer to prep the filly for an upcoming sale.“The guy called me once, and he was on an encrypted phone; everything was on delay,” Simon said.The owner was not licensed in the U.S., so Simon attempted to submit the needed paperwork on the German’s behalf.“They said they needed his fingerprints, so he should go to the local police station,” Simon said. “I said, ‘He’s in Beijing, China! He’s a German diplomat! There’s no police involved!”A New York official told Simon the filly couldn’t run. The trainer went off.“The Queen of England ran a horse the other day for Christophe Clement, and you’re saying this horse can’t run? Well this guy is a German James bleepin’ Bond! We can’t get his fingerprints!”Simon ended up getting a temporary license for the owner to race the filly in New Jersey.During his years as a trainer, Simon helped tutor people who aspired to have their own stables.“Chuck saw that desire I had, wanting to be a trainer someday, and yet he made me start at the very bottom and work my way up the right way; and that I really respected,” said trainer Phil D'Amato, who worked for Simon for four years.“Looking back, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. From a hot walker, to a groom, to a foreman, assistant—I went up the ladder with Chuck. He’s an excellent horseman and excellent teacher as well.”Simon’s last assistant, Sue Ditter, went on her own upon his retirement. She still leans on him for insight.“My favorite response of Chuck’s is, ‘I’m not the trainer anymore—that’s your job,’” Ditter said. “Which basically means that whatever idea I threw at him was pretty much OK.”Simon also takes pride in having had an eye for horses, such as Divine Park, sire of multiple-graded stakes winner Lady Eli.“I bought him for myself and a client for $20,000,” Simon said. “He went on to win the [Gr1] Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont.”Following a year with the GHPA, Simon was considering his career options. He hadn’t ruled out one day returning to training.“I miss the horses—seeing one doing well, figuring out what they want, what they need. Seeing them start to thrive,” he said. “But I was kind of burnt out. When you have slow horses, it’s deflating when there’s really not much you can do and you know that.”

By Charlie McCarthy

If Chuck Simon has a trait that equals or surpasses his concern for horses and horsemen, it’s his penchant for storytelling.

A conversation with the former longtime trainer uncovers the time, while employed as an assistant racing secretary, he used a dead Standardbred to fill a race field.

The time he got his trainer’s license without taking the required test.

The time he passed through Canadian customs minus a passport.

The time he trained a horse for a German spy.


Those are just some of the anecdotes and stories from a 20-year training career that ended in July 2019, when Simon decided to spearhead the Gulfstream Horsemen’s Purchasing Association (GHPA), a subsidiary of the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association.

The GHPA focused on supplying shavings, hay and feed at more affordable rates for horsemen at both Gulfstream Park and Palm Meadows Training Center in Boynton Beach, Fla. 

The hope was for revenue to support horsemen’s programs, including much-needed lobbying. But the business struggled, and then was hurt greatly by the COVID-19 pandemic.

ChuckSimon11.jpg

“It was a new venture, and we weren’t sure it was going to take off,” said the 52-year-old Simon, who fulfilled a one-year contract. “We were in uncharted waters.

“I’m happy that I did it. I experienced something new. It was a start-up company, with bumps along the way.”

This past summer, Simon began hosting a podcast named Around in Circles. While other horse racing podcasts mainly stress the game’s betting aspect, Simon and guests discuss news and issues affecting the industry.

Never hesitant to express himself, Simon has many opinions on the current state and future of a sport he was introduced to as a boy in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

“When I was about seven or eight years old, my dad started bringing me to the Thoroughbred and harness tracks,” he said. “It was kind of the adult world, and I had access to it.  

“When you’re growing up in Saratoga, you don’t realize that everyone does not have what you have. Not every place has a racetrack right in the backyard. Not every kid has access to Affirmed and Alydar.”

After graduating from high school, Simon played basketball for two years at a junior college in the Albany, N.Y. area. Then, Chuck’s father showed him a brochure for a racetrack industry program at the University of Arizona.

“It showed sunny pictures, girls and horses,” Simon recalled, “I said, ‘Damn, I’m going there!”

Simon arrived in Arizona, holding an advantage over many of his fellow students because he had the experience of having worked at both Saratoga-area tracks. In fact, he had dreamed of becoming a groom before his parents demanded he get a college education.

“A lot of the classes at Arizona were easy because I already knew everything,” said Simon, whose classmates included Todd Pletcher. “But going there helped get me connected to people outside of my New York bubble.”

While at Arizona, Simon heard from a friend, who offered a summer internship at Yonkers Raceway in N.Y. He not only took it, but within two weeks became assistant racing secretary at the age of 20.

Simon went to work full-time at Yonkers upon graduation. His duties included getting horses to fill cards for six and seven days of racing.

On one occasion, Simon was desperate to fill the field for a certain race. He even asked superiors if they could run a short field or if the card could be reduced. Neither option was granted.

“So, I find a horse that qualified three weeks earlier at Monticello and that fit the class but didn’t race again,” said Simon, who found the trainer’s phone number and called. “The guy says, ‘You sure you’re looking for me?’ I said, ‘Yeah, you had a horse that qualified three weeks ago. Have you raced that horse back? I have a race here that fits.’”

Seconds of silence followed before the man on the end said, “The filly, yeah, she passed away. She got colic.”

“Well, who knows she’s dead?” Simon quickly asked.

Although nobody outside the trainer’s immediate family and friends was aware the filly had died, Simon promised the man VIP treatment at Yonkers and convinced the guy to let him enter the horse at Yonkers.

At the draw, the judge overseeing the process was informed the filly was scratched. “Reason?” the judge asked.

“The horse is deceased,” Simon said.

Tired of office work, Simon wanted to return to the backside. During a visit to Belmont, he saw Pletcher working for D. Wayne Lukas. The former classmates chatted, and within a short time Simon had joined Team Lukas.

“I learned about the power of organization,” Simon said of his six months with Wayne and Jeff Lukas. “If things are organized, you can cover up a lot of the weaknesses or holes in the structure.”

Simon left Lukas to work for Pete Ferriola, who was among New York’s leading trainers.

“I learned a lot from Pete,” Simon said. “I learned you don’t have to train horses hard to still do well.”

After that, Simon assisted Tom Skiffington.

“Kind of like Christophe Clement—mostly turf, mostly Europeans,” Simon said. “I learned a lot from Tom Skiffington on being a horseman. He was an excellent horseman. He was as good a horseman as I ever saw.

“What I was trying to do was get as many unique, different angles of how to do it. Lukas was a very regimented three-year-old picture. Ferriola was all claimers, all the time. Skiffington was all turf.”



Although given a lot of responsibility by Skiffington, Simon moved on to work for Nick Zito for about three months. 

“I would have stayed with Zito,” Simon says, “but a job opened up with Jerkens, and jobs never opened up with Jerkens.”



No. 4 on Zito’s staff, Simon would become the No. 2 man for Allen Jerkens behind Allen’s son Jimmy.

“Nick told me, ‘Hey, it’s the chief. You gotta do what you gotta do,’” Simon said.

Simon went to see Jerkens, who asked, “You work for all those fancy guys. Why do you want to work for me for?”

“I said, ‘I don’t want to be a movie star; I want to be a horse trainer,’” Simon said. “He liked that.”

ChuckSimon8.jpg

Simon spent nearly six years working for Hall of Famer Jerkens.

“He was totally different than anybody I’d ever worked for,” Simon said. “He would do things you’d never even considered, and it would make you feel stupid sometimes. …

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Jessica Buckley - Senior Vice President of Racing Operations - Woodbine and Woodbine Mohawk

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Jessica Buckley ProfileBy: Alex CampbellAfter the Woodbine Entertainment Group announced a reorganization of their senior leadership team in January, Jessica Buckley—the former president of the company’s Standardbred track, Woodbine Mohawk Park—was named Senior Vice President of Racing Operations for both Thoroughbred racing and Standardbred racing.Buckley’s role of managing racing operations for two different breeds at the same time appears to be unique in North American racing. And while she has direct experience running a Standardbred racetrack, she also has strong roots in Thoroughbred racing in the province of Ontario. Buckley is the daughter of the late Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Robert Anderson, who operated leading breeding operation, Anderson Farms, in St. Thomas, Ontario for more than 40 years. Buckley said she has fond memories growing up on the farm that produced the likes of 1992 Preakness Stakes runner-up Alydeed, and Canadian champions Larkwhistle, Prince Avatar and Fifty Proof.“I couldn’t help but be interested in the horses,” she said. “I always knew how lucky I was to have horses like that in my backyard. It was a really great childhood growing up with the mares in foal. My first job on the farm was doing my homework in the barn, on foal watching in the evenings. I always loved the horses.”Despite her love of horses, Buckley did not plan on having a career in the racing industry. She graduated from Western University in nearby London, Ontario in 1994, and had aspirations of becoming a television producer.“I found myself graduating in the nineties in a recession and couldn’t find a job in the field that I was interested in at the time,” Buckley said. “They were hiring at Woodbine, so I took a position for the summer and that’s where my career in racing began.”Buckley’s summer position at Woodbine in 1994 was in customer service, providing racetrack tours and information on how to place bets. From there, Buckley helped manage the launch of HorsePlayer Interactive—Woodbine’s account wagering service—in 1997.“I got into the operations of the racetrack and racing and realized how fascinating it was and all of the opportunities that were there,” she said. “It was on the cusp of technology in the nineties, and there were a lot of projects on the go that were new and exciting to be involved with.”Buckley remained with Woodbine until 2001, when an opportunity came up for her and her family to move to Pasadena, Calif., to join The Stronach Group for the launch of Xpressbet’s account wagering service there. Buckley remained with Xpressbet as the Director of Account Wagering until 2003, when she moved into television as the Director of Marketing for HRTV.“That was the serendipity to me,” she said. “I had always been interested in television, and then ended up getting involved with the launch of HRTV. I wasn’t a producer, but I was involved on the marketing side and affiliate sales and distribution and getting our product distributed across the United States.”Buckley remained with HRTV for more than nine years before leaving The Stronach Group in 2011. Her father had passed away in 2010, and she managed Anderson Farms with her brother, David Anderson, for a short period of time before Anderson bought out Buckley’s share in the farm.“It was great working with my brother, and it certainly felt like we were closer with my dad and his legacy,” she said. “I was living in New Jersey at the time with my family. My brother was the brains on the breeding side and doing all of the work and making all of the really great decisions that he made back then that have now really paid off for him. He was the one really running with it and making the business succeed, and we just made the decision that he would buy me out and continue on running Anderson Farms.”Buckley’s husband’s career wound up bringing the family back to Canada in 2013. Buckley was running a children’s winter accessory business when Woodbine offered her the role of Vice President of Community and Government relations in 2015.“They were looking ahead to some exciting projects that were going to be happening,” she said. “They were working on a lot of things on the property development side and ways to sustain racing and create value and keep racing going for many, many years to come. I started speaking to them about it and then ended up coming back to help them initially with some government relations and community relations work, and things have evolved from there.”In her role, Buckley was involved in a number of initiatives with all three levels of government as the horse racing industry in Ontario dealt with the fallout of the cancellation of the slots at racetracks program; and the evolving gaming landscape, as the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation sought to modernize their operations. Woodbine Entertainment was also looking to begin several development projects on their properties, including converting Woodbine Mohawk Park into a year-round Standardbred racing facility. In 2017, Buckley became the president of Woodbine Mohawk Park to lead that transition.“The decision was made to move Standardbreds year-round to Mohawk, and there was gaming expansion happening as well with the new gaming partner,” she said. “We were creating a real destination for Standardbred racing, gaming and entertainment in the Halton Region.”Under Buckley’s leadership, Woodbine Mohawk Park successfully completed $10 million in capital improvements to allow for year-round racing, rebranded the track and hosted the 2018 Breeders’ Crown.This past January saw Buckley change roles within the Woodbine senior leadership team. Buckley was named Senior Vice President of Standardbred Racing and Thoroughbred Racing, and will report directly to CEO Jim Lawson. Buckley said she is excited to be back involved with Thoroughbred racing again.“It’s been a great challenge to take on the Thoroughbreds as well,” she said. “I’m much more familiar with Thoroughbred racing, and I feel much more comfortable in Thoroughbred racing than I certainly did in Standardbred racing when I first arrived at Mohawk. I had a very steep learning curve, but the people were absolutely fantastic.”Buckley has been dealing with a unique challenge in just her first few months in her new role, as the horse racing industry and the world have dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Woodbine Mohawk Park was able to race without spectators for two racing dates in March before having to cancel races indefinitely, while opening day for the Thoroughbreds at Woodbine (originally scheduled for April 18) was postponed. While some tracks, most notably Gulfstream Park and Oaklawn Park, have been able to continue to race during the pandemic, Buckley said a state of emergency issued by the government of Ontario had prevented Woodbine from being able to do the same.“In the state of emergency declaration, we’re a non-essential business,” she said. “We tried to continue to race as long as we could with all of the safety protocols in place without spectators. We were doing so successfully, but then when the state of emergency was declared, we did close.”Buckley said 1,100 Thoroughbreds were stabled on the Woodbine backstretch at the time the state of emergency was declared, and the track opted to keep the backstretch open as opposed to forcing horses off of the grounds.“We made the decision that we would continue to keep the backstretch open for the health and welfare of the horses but that we wouldn’t be conducting any non-essential business activities,” she said. “It has been difficult to strike the right balance, but Jim Lawson has been very focused on keeping people safe, number one; and number two, making sure the horses have the ability to get out of their stalls every day and do some jogging and galloping on the track.”Woodbine implemented a number of health and safety measures for the backstretch, including limiting access to essential employees and licensed personnel only, temperature screening for individuals that are permitted access to the backstretch and physical distancing practices, among others. As of May 13, Woodbine also made it mandatory for all backstretch workers to wear masks. Buckley said Woodbine received positive feedback from Toronto officials on the measures that were put in place.“They were checking on different businesses in the city to ensure we were following protocols,” she said. “They were very complimentary of what we had put in place as far as screening goes, along with mandatory masks on site, and face shields and things like that for our security team.”In May, the Ontario government began to relax their restrictions, which opened the door for racing at both Woodbine and Woodbine Mohawk Park to resume without spectators. Woodbine Mohawk Park resumed racing on June 5, while the Thoroughbreds at Woodbine began their meet on June 6. Despite starting the Thoroughbred meet six weeks later than planned, Woodbine was able to keep average daily purses the same, which were increased from 2019. With the condensed season, Woodbine also revised their stakes schedule, reducing the number of stakes from 87 to 75. The highlight of the meet—the $1-million Queen’s Plate—was moved from its original June 27 date to September 12, while the Gr1 Canadian International was canceled for 2020, due to the number of entrants from Europe that the race normally attracts.The original Woodbine stakes schedule did include a reduction in the number of Ontario-sired stakes that would be run. But to counter that, Buckley said that Ontario-bred and Ontario-sired bonuses have been increased on overnight races. Woodbine ran 18 Ontario-sired stakes last season, while 11 Ontario-sired stakes will be contested this season.“The money and the program has not been reduced; it’s just been distributed differently to try to reward more people,” Buckley said. “We’re still keeping a restricted stakes program in place for those stakes horses but not putting all of the money into that program and spreading it out. The intention of that additional bonus money is truly for horse improvement. The more people that can take part in that and invest in better mares, and increase the quality, is exactly the purpose of it.”With the increased Ontario-bred and Ontario-sired bonuses, maiden special weight races for two-year-olds could feature purses as high as $126,800; while three-year-olds and upward will run for $123,200 at the same condition. A popular condition for Ontario-sired horses—a $40,000 claiming event that is combined with Ontario-sired allowance runners—could feature purses of more than $60,000. A new condition that will be added to the racing program this season is another combined condition, featuring $25,000 maiden claimers and Ontario-sired maidens that will have purses up to $48,300.Woodbine is also looking to attract top caliber Ontario-bred horses that are stabled outside of the province with graded stakes bonuses. Any Ontario-bred horse that ships into Woodbine to win a Gr1 or Gr2 race will receive a $75,000 bonus or a $50,000 bonus.“We are trying to attract as many great horses to Woodbine as possible,” Buckley said. “In addition to talking about the maiden special weights, because I do think those maiden allowance races are really key for owners and trainers with those strong purses, but on our graded stakes program we have our bonuses again this year. Our purse structure is very strong to try and attract the Ontario-bred to race at Woodbine and keep our program strong.”Woodbine’s racing program also includes a number of turf racing options on both the E. P. Taylor turf course and the inner turf course, which opened last season, to go along with the tapeta main track.While navigating through the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging on both horse people and racetrack operators, Buckley said she is looking forward to racing resuming in the near future. When racing does resume in the province, Buckley, who also sits on the board of Ontario Racing with her brother David, says she believes Ontario’s horse racing industry is well-positioned for moving forward.“I think that we are in a really good position for the future,” she said. “We have this long-term funding agreement in place. I think the (Ontario Racing) board has done an excellent job. There’s a wide variety of opinions, but people have been very respectful. Each of them that hold a seat keep the broader industry interests in mind at all times. I think it’s worked very well.”

By Alex Campbell

After the Woodbine Entertainment Group announced a reorganization of their senior leadership team in January, Jessica Buckley—the former president of the company’s Standardbred track, Woodbine Mohawk Park—was named Senior Vice President of Racing Operations for both Thoroughbred racing and Standardbred racing.

Buckley’s role of managing racing operations for two different breeds at the same time appears to be unique in North American racing. And while she has direct experience running a Standardbred racetrack, she also has strong roots in Thoroughbred racing in the province of Ontario. Buckley is the daughter of the late Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Robert Anderson, who operated leading breeding operation, Anderson Farms, in St. Thomas, Ontario for more than 40 years. Buckley said she has fond memories growing up on the farm that produced the likes of 1992 Preakness Stakes runner-up Alydeed, and Canadian champions Larkwhistle, Prince Avatar and Fifty Proof.

“I couldn’t help but be interested in the horses,” she said. “I always knew how lucky I was to have horses like that in my backyard. It was a really great childhood growing up with the mares in foal. My first job on the farm was doing my homework in the barn, on foal watching in the evenings. I always loved the horses.”

Despite her love of horses, Buckley did not plan on having a career in the racing industry. She graduated from Western University in nearby London, Ontario in 1994, and had aspirations of becoming a television producer.

“I found myself graduating in the nineties in a recession and couldn’t find a job in the field that I was interested in at the time,” Buckley said. “They were hiring at Woodbine, so I took a position for the summer and that’s where my career in racing began.”

Buckley’s summer position at Woodbine in 1994 was in customer service, providing racetrack tours and information on how to place bets. From there, Buckley helped manage the launch of HorsePlayer Interactive—Woodbine’s account wagering service—in 1997.

Jessica MK, credit_ Clive Cohen, New Image Media.jpg

“I got into the operations of the racetrack and racing and realized how fascinating it was and all of the opportunities that were there,” she said. “It was on the cusp of technology in the nineties, and there were a lot of projects on the go that were new and exciting to be involved with.”

Buckley remained with Woodbine until 2001, when an opportunity came up for her and her family to move to Pasadena, Calif., to join The Stronach Group for the launch of Xpressbet’s account wagering service there. Buckley remained with Xpressbet as the Director of Account Wagering until 2003, when she moved into television as the Director of Marketing for HRTV.

“That was the serendipity to me,” she said. “I had always been interested in television, and then ended up getting involved with the launch of HRTV. I wasn’t a producer, but I was involved on the marketing side and affiliate sales and distribution and getting our product distributed across the United States.”

Buckley remained with HRTV for more than nine years before leaving The Stronach Group in 2011. Her father had passed away in 2010, and she managed Anderson Farms with her brother, David Anderson, for a short period of time before Anderson bought out Buckley’s share in the farm.

Buckley’s father Robert was inducted in 2015 to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Buckley’s father Robert was inducted in 2015 to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

“It was great working with my brother, and it certainly felt like we were closer with my dad and his legacy,” she said. “I was living in New Jersey at the time with my family. My brother was the brains on the breeding side and doing all of the work and making all of the really great decisions that he made back then that have now really paid off for him. He was the one really running with it and making the business succeed, and we just made the decision that he would buy me out and continue on running Anderson Farms.”

Buckley’s husband’s career wound up bringing the family back to Canada in 2013. Buckley was running a children’s winter accessory business when Woodbine offered her the role of Vice President of Community and Government relations in 2015.

“They were looking ahead to some exciting projects that were going to be happening,” she said. “They were working on a lot of things on the property development side and ways to sustain racing and create value and keep racing going for many, many years to come. I started speaking to them about it and then ended up coming back to help them initially with some government relations and community relations work, and things have evolved from there.”

In her role, Buckley was involved in a number of initiatives with all three levels of government as the horse racing industry in Ontario dealt with the fallout of the cancellation of the slots at racetracks program; and the evolving gaming landscape, as the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation sought to modernize their operations. Woodbine Entertainment was also looking to begin several development projects on their properties, including converting Woodbine Mohawk Park into a year-round Standardbred racing facility. In 2017, Buckley became the president of Woodbine Mohawk Park to lead that transition.

“The decision was made to move Standardbreds year-round to Mohawk, and there was gaming expansion happening as well with the new gaming partner,” she said. “We were creating a real destination for Standardbred racing, gaming and entertainment in the Halton Region.” 

Under Buckley’s leadership, Woodbine Mohawk Park successfully completed $10 million in capital improvements to allow for year-round racing, rebranded the track and hosted the 2018 Breeders’ Crown.

This past January saw Buckley change roles within the Woodbine senior leadership team. Buckley was named Senior Vice President of Standardbred Racing and Thoroughbred Racing, and will report directly to CEO Jim Lawson. Buckley said she is excited to be back involved with Thoroughbred racing again.

Training scenario under new regulations.

Training scenario under new regulations.

“It’s been a great challenge to take on the Thoroughbreds as well,” she said. “I’m much more familiar with Thoroughbred racing, and I feel much more comfortable in Thoroughbred racing than I certainly did in Standardbred racing when I first arrived at Mohawk. I had a very steep learning curve, but the people were absolutely fantastic.”

Buckley has been dealing with a unique challenge in just her first few months in her new role, as the horse racing industry and the world have dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Woodbine Mohawk Park was able to race without spectators for two racing dates in March before having to cancel races indefinitely, while opening day for the Thoroughbreds at Woodbine (originally scheduled for April 18) was postponed. While some tracks, most notably Gulfstream Park and Oaklawn Park, have been able to continue to race during the pandemic, Buckley said a state of emergency issued by the government of Ontario had prevented Woodbine from being able to do the same.

“In the state of emergency declaration, we’re a non-essential business,” she said. “We tried to continue to race as long as we could with all of the safety protocols in place without spectators. We were doing so successfully, but then when the state of emergency was declared, we did close.”

Buckley said 1,100 Thoroughbreds were stabled on the Woodbine backstretch at the time the state of emergency was declared, and the track opted to keep the backstretch open as opposed to forcing horses off of the grounds.

“We made the decision that we would continue to keep the backstretch open for the health and welfare of the horses but that we wouldn’t be conducting any non-essential business activities,” she said. “It has been difficult to strike the right balance, but Jim Lawson has been very focused on keeping people safe, number one; and number two, making sure the horses have the ability to get out of their stalls every day and do some jogging and galloping on the track.”…

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Justify & Jimson Weed - from the racetrack to the courtroom - positive test result for a banned substance on race day

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By Peter J. Sacopulos

Justify, Jimson Weed & Justice: From the Racetrack to the Courtroom By Peter J. Sacopulos Justify’s victory in the 2018 Santa Anita Derby served as the springboard for trainer Bob Baffert’s second Triple Crown triumph. In the wake of a 2019 New York Times article revealing the colt had tested positive for a banned substance on race day, Ruis Racing has filed a lawsuit against the California Horse Racing Board. Ruis claims the CHRB failed to do its duty, and the 2018 victory and the $600,000 first-place purse rightfully belong to Bolt d’Oro.A Duel at Santa AnitaAs the starting bell sounded for the million-dollar Santa Anita Derby on April 7, 2018, folks who knew racing knew the contest was likely to come down to a duel between two horses: Bolt d’Oro and Justify. Both were big, beautiful and born to run. Bolt d’Oro, owned/trained by Mick Ruis and ridden by Javier Castellano, had experience on his side. Justify, trained by Bob Baffert, had only two races to his credit, but the handsome colt had won both and was already tagged as a rising star. A first- or second-place finish in Santa Anita would guarantee a spot in the Kentucky Derby, and Baffert, who had captured the Triple Crown with American Pharaoh only three years earlier, publicly hinted that his latest protégé could go all the way as well.Baffert’s confidence seemed well placed when Justify, ridden by Mike E. Smith, took an early lead. Having firmly established themselves in second place, Castellano and Bolt D’Oro made their move in the final turn. With announcer Mike Worna describing the match as “prodigious talent versus established class,” Bolt d’Oro closed the gap and appeared ready to nose it out. But Justify sprang ahead in the final furlong, and prodigious talent won the day in an electrifying climax.History in the MakingThe rest, as they say, is history. Bob Baffert and Justify kept their string of victories going through a muddy Kentucky Derby, a foggy, rain-soaked Preakness, and a beautiful day at Belmont. Justify became the thirteenth horse to win the Triple Crown, and Baffert decked his already legendary status with fresh laurels. The trainer had chalked up an astonishing two Triple Crowns, five Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes and three Kentucky Oaks.Baffert had his eyes on The Grand Slam, but a problem with his superstar’s left front ankle led to the stallion’s retirement in late July 2018. Justify had earned $3,798,000 in six races. He followed Seattle Slew as the second winner in Triple Crown history to retire undefeated. Breeding rights were sold for a reported $60 million, plus a $25-million bonus for the Triple Crown triumph. Justify’s stud fee was reportedly set at $150,000.A Stunning Revelation & Angry AllegationsThen, last fall, a dark cloud appeared above the green pastures of Justify’s retirement. On September 11, 2019, The New York Times ran an article headlined, “Justify Failed a Drug Test Before Winning the Triple Crown.” Racing journalist Joe Drape revealed what the California Horse Racing Board and the horse’s trainer and owners had managed to keep secret for over a year. Justify had tested over the acceptable limit for scopolamine on the day of his crucial victory at Santa Anita.That would have been a bombshell in and of itself. But the article went on to detail a series of questionable actions by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) in the aftermath of the positive test. Actions that, in the eyes of many, defied logic, violated procedure, and made mockery of ethics and transparency. Some even claimed the governing body had violated California law.Less than two weeks after the Times article appeared, California Governor Gavin Newsom publicly blasted the CHRB and the horse racing industry. “What happened last year was unacceptable, and all of the excuses be damned. We own that going into next season, and we’re going to have to do something about it,” Newsom told the Times. “I’ll tell you, talk about a sport whose time is up unless they reform. That’s horse racing,” the governor continued. He went on to excoriate the industry’s treatment of racehorses and warn that industries that don’t reform themselves get reformed by others.A Race Becomes a CaseIn January 2020, Ruis Racing, which owned and trained Bolt d’Oro, filed a lawsuit in the California courts. The suit contends that, under the California rules for Thoroughbred racing, Justify must be disqualified from the 2018 Santa Anita Derby, Bolt d’Oro must be recognized as the race’s rightful winner, and Ruis Racing must be awarded the first-place prize money. ($600,000 vs. their $200,000 second-place purse.) The suit also claims that the CHRB knowingly violated statutes and procedures, and that Ruis Racing is entitled to compensatory damages and reimbursement for all legal costs incurred by the suit.In the wake of the first Times article, Bob Baffert released a statement declaring that neither he nor his staff administered scopolamine to Justify prior to the Santa Anita run, or to any of his horses, ever. The statement said the substance had undoubtedly entered the horse’s system due to ingesting jimson weed—a natural source of scopolamine that can turn up in hay, straw and cereal grains. Baffert further stated that the CHRB had found no wrongdoing, that he had no influence over the Board or its decisions, and that Justify had tested clean in all of his other races.Getting into the WeedsBaffert’s statement correctly identified jimson weed as an environmental source of scopolamine. The chemical is a naturally occurring alkaloid found in noxious plants, including jimson weed. Invasive and aggressive, jimson weed is despised by farmers around the globe. Its defenses against nature’s plant-eaters include thorny seed pods, an unpleasant smell, and an extremely bitter flavor. Scopolamine not only contributes to the plant’s unappetizing taste, it adds toxicity. Though used in small amounts in human digestive remedies for centuries, modern medical experts consider jimson weed ineffective and unsafe, since ingesting the plant or its seeds can produce vomiting, seizures, muscle cramps and death. Its toxic effects extend to horses as well.While horses would likely avoid dining on jimson weed in natural surroundings, the plant is impossible to totally eradicate from modern farm fields, and small amounts of it occasionally turn up in horse feed, hay and straw. Horses that eat parts of the plant or its seeds will test positive for both scopolamine and atropine, another alkaloid found in jimson weed. The presence of both alkaloids in a horse’s blood or urine is typically taken as a sign of environmental contamination via jimson weed ingestion.The presence of scopolamine without atropine in test results would likely be evidence that a horse has been treated with Buscopan, a pharmaceutical approved by the FDA for the treatment of spasmodic colic in horses. This is because Buscopan contains a synthetic compound that is remarkably similar to scopolamine. In addition to relieving colic, the drug could also relax airways in the lungs, improving airflow. Buscopan’s labeling identifies increased heart rate as the drug’s major side effect.Science & SubstanceWhile scopolamine might theoretically increase racing performance, there is no scientific evidence indicating the alkaloid is an effective performance enhancer. As with many other substances, scopolamine is banned based on its theoretical potential, not real-world results.The New York Times piece that revealed Justify’s failed drug test reported a high level of scopolamine in the colt’s post-race urine sample: 300 ng/mml—well above the common industry thresholds of 60 or 75 ng/mml. The article never stated that Baffert or anyone on his staff had doped the horse. It did, however, include a disturbing quote regarding that high level from Dr. Rick Sams, who headed the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s drug laboratory for some seven years. “I think it has to come from intentional intervention,” Sams said.Many came to Baffert’s defense, including Tim Layden, who penned an article for NBCSports.com. Layden pointed out that Sams is a respected PhD and lab chief but is not a veterinarian, and that no vets’ or other experts’ opinions, some of which might well have contradicted Sams, were offered in the Times piece. Similar to an article I co-authored for The Horseman’s Journal, Layden outlined a case for environmental contamination at Santa Anita due to the presence of jimson weed in locally sourced hay and straw.The Environmental Contamination DefenseThe arguments for environmental contamination are hard to dismiss. Historically speaking, scopolamine positives have been few and far between. They often occur in clusters, which is an indicator of plant contamination. The Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) recorded 28 positive scopolamine results over 30 years—22 of which occurred in California. Jimson weed thrives in the state, and its natural drought resistance makes it more likely to show up in feed when dry conditions reduce crop yields. In 2016, the CHRB officially warned industry professionals in Del Mar of the presence of jimson weed in straw.In 2018, Justify was one of six horses that tested positive for scopolamine in California around the time of the Santa Anita Derby, making feed contamination a likely culprit. All six animals also tested positive for atropine—a strong indicator that a plant, not a pharmaceutical, was the source of the compound.The presence of scopolamine at 300 ng/ml in Justify’s urine does seem high. But the presence of a substance in a urine sample indicates that it has been eliminated from the animal’s bloodstream by the kidneys. Properly functioning kidneys work to flush out as much of a natural or synthetic toxin as quickly as possible. Complicating matters, the level of a horse’s hydration and the acidity of its urine can also affect the levels of substances in its urine—all of which makes the measuring of substances in the blood a far more accurate indicator. As of this writing, the CHRB has not officially released Justify’s post-Santa-Anita test results. But multiple sources have reported that the level of scopolamine in Justify’s blood test was significantly lower.When it comes to Ruis Racing’s civil lawsuit, whether Justify accidentally nibbled on jimson-weed-tainted feed or was deliberately doped is strangely beside the point. After all, Ruis Racing isn’t suing Bob Baffert or Justify’s ownership group. Mick Ruis and his family are suing the California Horse Racing Board. And their case has the potential to shake American Thoroughbred racing to its core.What the CHRB Did & Didn’t DoThe following timeline chronicles CHRB’s actions during 2018 in light of Justify’s positive test for scopolamine. The timeline is based on press reports and information in the Ruis’ legal filing. Be aware that the CHRB’s refusal to publicly release all relevant information makes some dates and details impossible to pin down.On April 7, Justify won the Santa Anita Derby. Post-race samples were drawn from the horse for testing and sent to the official CHRB laboratory. On April 18, the lab reported the detection of scopolamine in Justify’s samples to the CHRB. CHRB rules required that both the organization’s executive director and medical director be notified.On April 20, the CHRB’s legal counsel, its chief investigator, and Executive Director Rick Baedeker received an email from CHRB Equine Medical Director Dr. Rick Arthur. The email noted that the Justify matter should be “handled differently than usual.”On April 26, Bob Baffert was notified of the test results and requested a split sample for independent testing. The split sample was sent to the lab on May 1. Justify won the Kentucky Derby on May 5. Three days later, on May 8, the split sample results confirmed the presence of scopolamine. CHRB Executive Director Baedeker informed Board members that, “The CHRB investigations unit will issue a complaint and a hearing will be scheduled.” (No complaint was issued, and no hearing was scheduled.)On May 19, Justify won the Preakness. On May 24, news of the horse’s breeding rights sale broke in The New York Times.At some point in May, the CHRB drafted revised drug classification rules, reducing the penalties for scopolamine. Under the proposed rules, what was a Class 3/Penalty B violation would become a Class 4/Penalty C violation. These changes would rescind requirements for disqualification and forfeiture of winnings.On June 9, Justify won the Belmont Stakes, clinching the Triple Crown.On a date in late August, the CHRB is believed to have held a closed or executive meeting to discuss the Justify situation. It appears that in the course of this meeting, Executive Director Rick Baedeker recommended the case be dismissed, and all those present voted to do so.In October, 2018, the CHRB’s revised rules for scopolamine officially took effect.Ruis Racing Weighs InThe Justify matter remained a well-kept secret until the Times published its exposé. In the months since, individuals who were members of the CHRB when Justify tested positive for scopolamine have spoken publicly about the matter. They have stated that an internal investigation determined that the scopolamine discovered in Justify’s urine was the result of accidental jimson weed ingestion, and the Board acted properly in allowing Justify to remain as the Santa Anita Derby winner while taking no further actions against Baffert or his horse. No harm, no foul. Mick Ruis and his attorneys disagree.The core of the Ruis Racing claim is that the CHRB failed in its mandatory duty by not following or enforcing its own rules, as required by California law. At the time of the 2018 Santa Anita Derby, California rules required a horse testing over the limit for scopolamine be disqualified, and any purse won be forfeited. Period.The Ruis suit claims that the CHRB did not apply the proper penalty at the time of the Santa Anita Derby, deviated from standard testing procedure, and failed to properly redistribute prize money after Justify’s positive scopolamine test. It also claims the CHRB failed in its mandatory duty, utilized a non-existent rule and an unofficial, illegal testing procedure, abused its powers of discretion, treated evidence in a selective manner, and applied a secret, unofficial standard. The lawsuit states that this amounts to arbitrary and capricious behavior by the Board, and that such behavior is biased, unacceptable and illegal, and violates Mick Ruis’ constitutional rights. There’s more, but you get the idea.Secrecy, Transparency & the Future of the SportYou may believe Justify accidentally ingested jimson weed in his feed and was vindicated by the CHRB. Or you may feel the CHRB played fast and loose to protect the record and reputation of a legendary trainer and his superstar horse. But no matter where you stand on the issue, it’s difficult not to be disheartened by the California Board’s lack of transparency in its processes and decisions regarding Justify’s scopolamine positive.As with all horse racing authorities in the U.S., the CHRB is supposed to enforce defined rules in a fair, consistent and uniform manner in order to protect horses, industry professionals, and above all, the public. It’s hard to see how the Board’s secrecy surrounding the Justify test results dovetails with that mission.Whatever the judge decides, Ruis Racing’s case will likely have deep, lasting ramifications for the horse racing industry. As the particulars play out in court, we would all do well to remember Governor Newsom’s warning to the racing industry and its regulators: “If you don’t reform yourself, you’re going to get run over and others are going to reform you in ways that you don’t like.” I could not have said it better myself. ####################

Justify’s victory in the  2018 Santa Anita Derby served as the springboard for trainer Bob Baffert’s second Triple Crown triumph. In the wake of a 2019 New York Times article revealing the colt had tested positive for a banned substance on race day, Ruis Racing has filed a lawsuit against the California Horse Racing Board. Ruis claims the CHRB failed to do its duty, and the 2018 victory and the $600,000 first-place purse rightfully belong to Bolt d’Oro.  

Justify with trainer Bob Baffert.

Justify with trainer Bob Baffert.

A Duel at Santa Anita

As the starting bell sounded for the million-dollar Santa Anita Derby on April 7, 2018, folks who knew racing knew the contest was likely to come down to a duel between two horses: Bolt d’Oro and Justify. Both were big, beautiful and born to run. Bolt d’Oro, owned/trained by Mick Ruis and ridden by Javier Castellano, had experience on his side. Justify, trained by Bob Baffert, had only two races to his credit, but the handsome colt had won both and was already tagged as a rising star. A first- or second-place finish in Santa Anita would guarantee a spot in the Kentucky Derby, and Baffert, who had captured the Triple Crown with American Pharaoh only three years earlier, publicly hinted that his latest protégé could go all the way as well. 

Baffert’s confidence seemed well placed when Justify, ridden by Mike E. Smith, took an early lead. Having firmly established themselves in second place, Castellano and Bolt D’Oro made their move in the final turn. With announcer Mike Worna describing the match as “prodigious talent versus established class,” Bolt d’Oro closed the gap and appeared ready to nose it out. But Justify sprang ahead in the final furlong, and prodigious talent won the day in an electrifying climax.

History in the Making

The rest, as they say, is history. Bob Baffert and Justify kept their string of victories going through a muddy Kentucky Derby, a foggy, rain-soaked Preakness, and a beautiful day at Belmont. Justify became the thirteenth horse to win the Triple Crown, and Baffert decked his already legendary status with fresh laurels. The trainer had chalked up an astonishing two Triple Crowns, five Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes and three Kentucky Oaks. 

Baffert had his eyes on The Grand Slam, but a problem with his superstar’s left front ankle led to the stallion’s retirement in late July 2018. Justify had earned $3,798,000 in six races. He followed Seattle Slew as the second winner in Triple Crown history to retire undefeated. Breeding rights were sold for a reported $60 million, plus a $25-million bonus for the Triple Crown triumph. Justify’s stud fee was reportedly set at $150,000.

A Stunning Revelation & Angry Allegations

Then, last fall, a dark cloud appeared above the green pastures of Justify’s retirement. On September 11, 2019, The New York Times ran an article headlined, “Justify Failed a Drug Test Before Winning the Triple Crown.” Racing journalist Joe Drape revealed what the California Horse Racing Board and the horse’s trainer and owners had managed to keep secret for over a year. Justify had tested over the acceptable limit for scopolamine on the day of his crucial victory at Santa Anita.

That would have been a bombshell in and of itself. But the article went on to detail a series of questionable actions by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) in the aftermath of the positive test. Actions that, in the eyes of many, defied logic, violated procedure, and made mockery of ethics and transparency. Some even claimed the governing body had violated California law.

Less than two weeks after the Times article appeared, California Governor Gavin Newsom publicly blasted the CHRB and the horse racing industry. “What happened last year was unacceptable, and all of the excuses be damned. We own that going into next season, and we’re going to have to do something about it,” Newsom told the Times. “I’ll tell you, talk about a sport whose time is up unless they reform. That’s horse racing,” the governor continued. He went on to excoriate the industry’s treatment of racehorses and warn that industries that don’t reform themselves get reformed by others.

A race becomes a case

Bolt d’Oro

Bolt d’Oro

In January 2020, Ruis Racing, which owned and trained Bolt d’Oro, filed a lawsuit in the California courts. The suit contends that, under the California rules for Thoroughbred racing, Justify must be disqualified from the 2018 Santa Anita Derby, Bolt d’Oro must be recognized as the race’s rightful winner, and Ruis Racing must be awarded the first-place prize money. ($600,000 vs. their $200,000 second-place purse.) The suit also claims that the CHRB knowingly violated statutes and procedures, and that Ruis Racing is entitled to compensatory damages and reimbursement for all legal costs incurred by the suit.

Trainer Bob Baffert is interviewed after winning the 2018 Santa Anita Derby.

Trainer Bob Baffert is interviewed after winning the 2018 Santa Anita Derby.

In the wake of the first Times article, Bob Baffert released a statement declaring that neither he nor his staff administered scopolamine to Justify prior to the Santa Anita run, or to any of his horses, ever. The statement said the substance had undoubtedly entered the horse’s system due to ingesting jimson weed—a natural source of scopolamine that can turn up in hay, straw and cereal grains. Baffert further stated that the CHRB had found no wrongdoing, that he had no influence over the Board or its decisions, and that Justify had tested clean in all of his other races.

Getting into the Weeds

Justify, ridden by Mike Smith, in the winners circle after winning the 2018 Santa Anita Derby.

Justify, ridden by Mike Smith, in the winners circle after winning the 2018 Santa Anita Derby.

Baffert’s statement correctly identified jimson weed as an environmental source of scopolamine. The chemical is a naturally occurring alkaloid found in noxious plants, including jimson weed. Invasive and aggressive, jimson weed is despised by farmers around the globe. Its defenses against nature’s plant-eaters include thorny seed pods, an unpleasant smell, and an extremely bitter flavor. Scopolamine not only contributes to the plant’s unappetizing taste, it adds toxicity. Though used in small amounts in human digestive remedies for centuries, modern medical experts consider jimson weed ineffective and unsafe, since ingesting the plant or its seeds can produce vomiting, seizures, muscle cramps and death. Its toxic effects extend to horses as well. …

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Last five standing - What measures have the five Thoroughbred-only tracks taken to continue racing during the coronavirus shutdown?

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By Bill Heller

By Bill Heller

Thoroughbred racing hasn’t escaped the pandemic of the coronavirus that’s changing the world every day we wake up. Accordingly, during the first two weeks of April, there were only five racetracks offering spectator-less Thoroughbred racing in the county.

Those five tracks—Fonner Park in Nebraska, Will Rogers Downs in Oklahoma, Tampa Bay Downs, Gulfstream Park and Oaklawn Park—offer the horsemen lucky enough to be at those tracks the opportunity to keep working while millions of other Americans have become unemployed. Thousands of other Americans have died from the virus.

This is a new world, and these five racetracks are operating under guidelines—some mandatory and some not—aimed at keeping horsemen and anyone they come into contact with safe. Keeping the horses safe is a given.

Fonner Park

Fonner Park switched its daily schedule in late March, going from a Thursday, Friday and Saturday operation to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday—the same schedule Will Rogers Downs is operating to take advantage of simulcasting revenue.

“We started this schedule March 23rd,” Fonner Park Racing Secretary Doug Schoepf said. “There were a lot of racetracks shutting down. The horsemen are very thankful that we are able to continue to run. They’re able to run for some purse money. If we close down, they have nowhere to go. Tracks around us have delayed their meets.”

Schoepf said that every person working at the track wears a mask and gloves. “They also do social distancing—10 people or less,” he said. “There’s an empty stall between each stall with a racehorse. We limit it to two people in the stall: the trainer and the groom. Trainers and grooms must wear masks and gloves. Our valets wear masks and gloves.”

Asked about the effectiveness of the safety protocols, Schoepf said, “It’s working well.”

Fonner Park was approved for 12 extra dates of spectator-free racing from May 4th through May 31 on a Monday-through-Wednesday schedule.

At Will Rogers Downs, the March 16 through May 19 meet has proceeded without interruptions. “We all wear masks, plexiglass and gloves,” Paddock Judge Scooter Rippy said. “We draw cards in open air. The governor has put restrictions on people coming in. It’s really kind of crazy, but it seems to be working.”

Will Rogers Downs

Will Rogers Downs Race Secretary John Lies said, “For out-of-state shippers, per the governor of Oklahoma two weeks ago, we are not allowing entries or jockeys from six states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Washington and Louisiana.

He said that all track employees must wear a protective mask while on the property. “We provide gloves for all,” he said.

Additionally, the clerk of scales in the jockey room takes all riders’ temperatures.

Asked if horsemen are following the protocols, he said, “They definitely are following it. They want to keep the track open.” 

Tampa Bay Downs

Tampa Bay Downs, has just extended its meet through until the end of May given that horsemen would have nowhere to go if the meet had finished at planned at the start of the month . “We’re not letting in any backside help or riders that haven’t been here already,” Racing Secretary Allison De Luca said. “We’re not letting in a horse who started in another state unless they have a workout in Florida. The main thing is we’re about the health of horses coming in. We’re trying to keep it down and use horses from here, Gulfstream Park, Palm Meadows or training centers in Ocala and Miami.”

De Luca said everybody is wearing gloves and masks “pretty much all the time.” That includes jockeys, officials, all the pony people. “Every time they come into the track, their temperature is taken at the stable gate,” De Luca said. “And then, when they go into the paddock, their temperature is taken again. Security workers are also taking temperatures on the backside and are reminding people not to gather [into] groups, even if it’s by accident. We’re just trying to keep people separated—trying to keep people apart. So far, it’s worked out pretty well.”

The response from horsemen has been very positive. “At first, I just don’t think we had everything in place,” she said. “Now people are responding very well to it, and they’re happy that we’re still racing.”

Gulfstream Park

She added that the racing office has been closed and that entries are being taken by phone. “We’re trying to be safe for everyone,” De Luca said. “The horses are here, and they have to be taken care of. Everybody that’s back there has to be.”

De Luca also said that the track has procedures for quarantines. “But they haven’t been needed yet,” he said.

Gulfstream Park seemed to be in danger of losing its signature race—the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 29, but the track remained open, ran the race, and has continued to operate on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday schedule. 

“We’ve put in place many, many protocols for human safety and horse safety,” Racing Secretary Mike Lakow said. “I believe at this point, they (the officials making such decisions) are comfortable with what we’ve put in place.”

That doesn’t mean it’s business like usual. “It’s weird,” Lakow said. “After Tiz the Law won the Florida Derby, I went over to (jockey) Mike Franco and told him, `Manny, I’m really sorry. There should be high-fives and cheering.’ He said, `I get it,’ and nodded.”

 https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/horse-racing/article241189496.html

 Credit: MATIAS J. OCNER mocner@miamiherald.com



In South Florida, no horsemen, including jockeys, from out of state have been allowed at the Stronach properties; Palm Meadows, Gulfstream Park and Gulfstream Park West (Calder). “If they come from out of state, they must quarantine for two weeks at a facility in Florida,” Lakow said. “Jockeys, if they haven’t been riding here, they’re not allowed here.”

Oaklawn Park

Among the many protocols at Gulfstream Park include keeping jockeys apart and ensuring all humans wear gloves and a mask or bandana. “Social distancing is key to us,” Lakow said. “We’re limiting it to two people or occasionally three in the paddock. Right now, it’s working great. The horsemen have been tremendous. They’re bending over backwards because they know we’re trying to keep racing going. They’re incredible.”

Asked if those protocols are keeping people safe, Lakow said, “Of course.”

Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., is hopeful its current 57-day meet, which ends May 2, will be held in its entirety—racing on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

“We only take horses shipping in for stakes,” Racing Secretary Patrick Pope said. “We’re basically allowing horses from everywhere, but no people, especially from New York and Louisiana. Vans drive in and drop the horses off. Trainers are calling friends here to saddle their horses.”

Among the precautions being taken include taking everybody’s temperature. “We’re asking for social distancing,” Pope said. “We keep minimum people in the paddock: two people and that’s it.”

Gloves and masks are recommended but not mandated. “We’ve seen some,” Pope said. “Some trainers do wear them, some don’t. But if the governor of Arkansas says wear them, we’ll wear them, or they won’t be allowed in.”

Asked if he’s happy with this routine, Pope said, “It seems to be working. We’re trying to do everything we can to let them run for purse money with so many other tracks not open. You’ve got to take care of the horses and feed them.

We’re fortunate to be working. We try to keep any negatives out of it—anything to keep the people and the horses safe.”

Against the odds - how two tracks kept racing and reaped handle rewards

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By Jeff Lowe

Fonner Park and Will Rogers Downs were the surprise beneficiaries of national attention on the racing landscape in late March and throughout the month of April. They were the only racetrack signals available early in the week with a somewhat captive audience as so many sports-starved handicappers were stuck at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Off-track handle exploded to record totals at both racetracks, but the bottom line effects were different with the backdrop of empty grandstands. 

Fonner Park in Grand Isle, Neb., has quietly built up an impressive on-track business model for its annual race meets, spanning from late February to Kentucky Derby weekend in early May. The meet has now been approved for 12 extra dates of spectator-free racing from May 4th through May 31 on a Monday-through-Wednesday schedule.

The grandstand sells out most every Saturday for 11 straight weeks, and the revenue from tickets, on-track handle, food and beverage are a large piece of the track's financial puzzle. The usual all-source handle for a Saturday at Fonner might not surpass $600,000, CEO Chris Kotulak said. Even though off-track handle skyrocketed to as much as a state record of $7.2 million for a mandatory Pick 5 payout and otherwise averaged about $2.5 million with the altered schedule, the track's off-track take at a rate between 3 and 4 percent is not enough to completely make up for the missing revenue from on-track patrons, he said. 

Fonner Park CEO Chris Kotulak

"You see those sexy mutuel numbers and might think 'Wow, what a success!'" Kotulak said. "My response is 'Really, we're just surviving.' The horsemen, other than reducing the purse values for a couple stakes races, the purses have not changed one penny. For them, it's pretty much status quo. But people have asked me, 'Are we going to stick with this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday schedule to be more visible nationally,' and I don't even let them finish the sentence. Absolutely not. Fonner Park is not making any revenue on food, beverage or seating on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays now, and going forward we wouldn't make anything comparable to what we do on the weekends. We need that revenue to put that into our coffers to keep up on maintenance and repairs for our facility, and on top of that, it's the experience that is so important here. 

"No one is going to get sold on horse racing by going to a racetrack on a Tuesday afternoon with a handful of people there. A lot of the nation doesn't realize we sell out every Saturday for 11 weeks of racing, our grandstand is jammed pack, and Sundays are big here too. That vibe is what brings people back.

We are very much alive and thriving on-track every racing weekend. We are a clean, tidy, efficient little racing facility, and if you haven't been to us before, you wouldn't have any reason to realize what we do well.

You'd think this is a dusty, five-eighths mile racetrack with a ratty old grandstand; and that is not us at all. We run a proper race meet, we keep up the facility, and we have more than 900 horses stabled here. So we are not just some carnival that comes to town; we've been operating since 1954 and it's a rich tradition here." 

Fonner Park during normal times.

Kotulak realistically does not expect Fonner's signal to become more popular or pervasive after this unique circumstance that thrust the track into the limelight. 

"We'll be yesterday's news once other racetracks come back online," he said. "I get it. I understand most people would rather bet on $200,000 stakes races with horses running on the turf, but with what we're offering, we're presenting full fields and competitive racing, so it makes sense that as the only show in town, we're benefiting with huge off-track handle totals compared to what we're used to; but I don't want to overstate what that means for our bottom line.

"One other piece of this equation is that there is never a race run at Fonner Park where the commission of the mutuel handle on that race pays for the purse of that race. We're offering $50,000 in purse money a day for our (original) 31-day race meet not for what they wager on a big Saturday or a big week or a season. It's the season plus the Triple Crown races, plus the Breeders' Cup and our big, mega handicapping challenge we offer in January each year that is either the third- or the second-best weekend we have annually. All that put together, we're able to scratch and claw together a condition book with roughly $5,000 a race in purse money." 

Trainer David Anderson has been racing at Fonner for 40 years and said the surreal circumstances are never far from his thoughts in this meet. 

"It's just a weird feeling every step of the way," Anderson said. "You're saddling horses with no people in the stands and with our masks on. There's no rah-rah and go-go, which is totally different for Fonner Park. It's always been a track with great crowds; the clubhouse sells out all the time. It's a big thing in Grand Island, Neb., and people come from all over the state. It's a real social gathering. Without all that, we're holding our own; but trust me, no one is liking this. There's the anxiety that if someone on the backside were to test positive for the virus, you got to think we'd be shut down right away. Then, there's no place to go. Every day we get to race; we've got to be thankful." 

The big difference at Will Rogers Downs compared to Fonner is the presence of an onsite casino. Will Rogers—about 30 miles outside Tulsa, Okla.—is owned and operated by the Cherokee Nation. On-track attendance for racing is not that important in the overall revenue model, but Will Rogers was already positioning its schedule for more exposure by racing early in the week when there is less competition from bigger tracks. In March and April, Will Rogers only races on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. In May, Saturdays are added in. 

Will Rogers Downs handled $16.8-million during an entire 25-day Thoroughbred meet in 2019. This year, that total was surpassed by the eighth day of racing. 

"We have been the beneficiaries of this global pandemic that has shuttered racetracks—there is no question about it," said Jon Lies, who serves triple duty as the Will Rogers racing secretary, track announcer and oddsmaker. "Our racing product has really improved. Not only is field size up, but more importantly, the quality of the races has increased tremendously. The class levels of races that I'm able to offer have also increased; it results in much better cards, and the horseplayers have responded very positively. Purse levels have not changed and look to remain the same for the foreseeable future. The main catch right now is that the casino is closed, and the simulcast operations have also stopped at this point; and that's a lot of our purse money for the future. The additional handle that we're getting now is obviously much greater than before, so the percentage of that going back into purses has increased dramatically. So time will tell as far as what impact that will have for future race meets here." 

A sign of the strange times is the availability—or lack thereof—of wagering for horsemen to bet on their own horses at Fonner and Will Rogers while much of the racing world is watching. 

Fonner owners and trainers can bet online through an ADW. Owners can do so onsite at Fonner from the comfort of their vehicles. The track is allowing owners to drive up to the track apron and watch their horses run live, but without getting out of their cars. 

In Oklahoma, in-state owners and trainers with horses running at Will Rogers do not have a way to bet on the races; there is no wagering on-track or simulcast operations during the pandemic, and ADW wagering through an online provider was already not an option in the state. 

"It's a very unusual situation where this Oklahoma track is thriving as much as it is, but the horsemen that are here year after year can't bet on their own races," Lies said. 

"Going forward, I think it's opened up a lot of doors for us. We've gone international and had eyeballs on us that we never would have imagined. Our goal is to try to retain this new audience that we have gained to what we feel like is a very attractive wagering product." 

Will Rogers is the true home track for trainer Scott Young—he lives a few furlongs up the road and has led the trainer standings in recent years. This meet has been much more competitive, he said. 

"It's definitely tougher racing, but we're just happy to be racing," said Young, who had a division this winter at Sam Houston Race Park, which cut short its meet due to COVID-19. "You have a lot of people shipping in since so many other tracks are closed, but I'm all for it. We're able to take advantage of it and put out a product that the gamblers are liking and seeing since we're pretty much the only game in town. 

“It's nice to see full fields and the horses we enter are able to race, as opposed to races getting called off because of four or five entries. Before, we were life and death to draw enough horses for the ‘two other than’ allowances and upper-level claiming races, but now we're filling every race that's written, and horses are shipping in from Kentucky, New Mexico—you name it. You see horses shipping 12 or 13 hours to come run here at Will Rogers and it's kind of unbelievable."

Coronavirus Update - state by state

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By Bill Heller

As tracks continue to juggle their schedules regarding training and upcoming meets, we’ve put together a snapshot of what is happening across different racing jurisdictions as well as provide website links for horsemen who need support. Nationally, the Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation was set up to help backstretch workers. Working with the Racetrack Chaplaincy of America, the Safety Net Foundation is focusing on the immediate need of stocking food pantries at racetracks around the country. Donations are tax deductible and can be made at tjcfoundation.org/donate. Because of the coronavirus, checks are not being accepted. On April 17, the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) issued suggested guidelines for all tracks. “We’re not trying to tell government health officials and racing commissions what to do,” Eric Hamelback, CEO of the NHBPA, said in a release. “We hope it provides a path forward.” The NHBPA disclaims any liability for use of those guidelines, which can be found in its entirety on the NHBPA website: www.nationalhbpa.com. Among the guidelines:

• To limit exposure and prevent the spread of germs and disease, no visitors or guests will be allowed to access the backside, racetrack, track aprons, paddocks or jockeys’ room. Nonessential personnel are prohibited on the grounds.

• There must be multiple health check stations at every accessible gate/entry for the stable area. Health check stations will take temperatures of all people and note any symptoms of illness before granting access. A log will be kept of all people granted access. Before authorized personnel arrive, all must have had their temperatures taken.

• Trainers are responsible and accountable for ensuring all their employees have had their temperatures monitored and approved.

• Racetrack management is accountable for ensuring all their employees have had their temperatures taken and approved.

• All incoming van drivers not showing symptoms of illness must wear a mask, scarf or bandana over their nose and mouth and wear gloves to pick up or drop off horses. Drivers and attendants must have minimal contact with any stable personnel.

• All pony personnel must wear a mask, scarf or bandana over their nose and mouth and gloves when in contact with jockeys.

• Gate crew workers must wear a mask, scarf or bandana over their nose and mouth and wear gloves when loading horses in the starting gate. They will have no contact with any other personnel unless it’s in the best interest of safety.

• No owners, media or fans will be allowed. There will be no guests with no exceptions.

• All personnel should observe social distancing.

• All jockeys and essential personnel in the jockeys’ room, including valets and the clerk of scales, will have their temperatures monitored daily. Anyone showing any signs of illness must be denied access. All saunas and extraneous facilities must be closed. Showers can remain open but will be sanitized frequently throughout the day.

• All jockeys are required to wear riding gloves.

• The guidelines include several suggested cleaning and hygiene protocols.

Even the long trip to normalcy begins with slow steps. Additionally, the National Thoroughbred Racetrack Association has a wealth of information for horsemen at its website, www.NTRA.com.

HERE’S THE LATEST INFORMATION, STATE BY STATE:

ARIZONA Turf Paradise’s meet, which was scheduled to conclude on May 3, ended on March 14. The backstretch has remained open with over 700 horses on site. Horses are currently able to remain in situ until mid-May, but no training is permitted on the track.

ARKANSAS See “Last Five Standing” article about Oaklawn Park.

CALIFORNIA Racing at both Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields ended abruptly on March 17 and April 9, respectively by their respective county mandates. Santa Anita has now issued a conditions book (click here). Racing resumed at Santa Anita on May 15 under strict protocols, including the exclusion of spectators.

Del Mar’s meet is scheduled from July 18 through September 7. The San Diego County Fair, which was supposed to run from June 5 through July 5, was canceled. Los Alamitos, which is currently conducting Quarter Horse racing, will race Thoroughbreds from June 26 through July 5.

Golden Gate Fields is set to resume racing (without spectators) on May 14. A revised conditions book and stakes schedule will be released over the coming days with the signature $250,00 San Francisco Mile (Gr.3 turf), moved to the closing day - June 14.

Sanitising according to the guidelines at Santa Anita.

DELAWARE Delaware Park’s meet was scheduled to run from May 27 through October 31.

The first day of the meet has been delayed by three weeks to Wednesday, June 17, and the meet will finish on Saturday, Oct. 17.

FLORIDA See “Last Five Standing” article about Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs.

Tampa Bay Downs has subsequently applied for dates in June, looking to race on a Monday / Wednesday schedule: June 1, 3, 8, 10, 15, 17, 22, and 24. Tampa would then race again on June 30 and July 1 with the June 30 date being the first day of the track's normal two-day summer festival of racing.

ILLINOIS On April 23, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker extended the stay-at-home order through the end of May. Arlington Park, which was supposed to open on May 1, is now hoping to run a 30 day meet during August and September.

INDIANA Racetracks have a reopening plan that includes additional protocols and procedures that all participants will be asked to abide by to ensure everyone’s health and safety as these stages are rolled out. Both racetracks will be posting those protocols on their website.

May 11 – Essential travel restrictions were lifted (local non-essential travel allowed). Horses currently located in Indiana were allowed to begin moving onto the backside of both racetracks. This applies only to those trainers with horses currently located in-state. Please contact Harrah’s Hoosier Park or Indiana Grand’s racing office to schedule your arrival date.

May 24 – No travel restrictions; horses originating from out-of-state are allowed. Horses currently located outside of Indiana will be allowed to begin moving onto the backside of both racetracks. This applies to those trainers with horses originating from out of state. Please contact Harrah’s Hoosier Park or Indiana Grand’s racing office to schedule your arrival date.

June 14 - Pari-mutuel racing allowed to commence – spectator free. 

July 4 – Pari-mutuel racing and County and State fair racing anticipated to begin (with spectators) should there be no change in the ‘Back on Track Indiana’ roadmap.

Governor Holcomb’s ‘Back on Track Indiana’ roadmap includes four guiding principles the state of Indiana will utilize to determine if the stages outlined continue to move forward. Participants should be aware that if these principles are not met, the stages may be paused, or we may need to return to an earlier stage. Details regarding the principles can be found at www.backontrack.in.gov

“Our industry leaders, from racetrack management, horsemen associations and IHRC staff have been working diligently to advocate for our racing industry to get us to this point. We appreciate everyone’s cooperation and understanding as we move forward and navigate through this reopening process,” stated Deena Pitman, Indiana Horse Racing Commission Executive Director.

Indiana Grand are planning to run a 86 day thoroughbred meet - from June 15 through November 18. Racing will take place from Monday to Thursday.

Indiana Grand has issued a revised condition book and stakes schedule for the 2020 season.

IOWA Prairie Meadows, which had a Thoroughbred only meet from May 1 to June 8 and a mixed Thoroughbred/ Quarter Horse meet from June 12 through September 26, has temporarily ceased operations. But is now looking to open again at some point between June 15 and July 1 and to reopen its backside some three weeks before racing begins.

KENTUCKY Keeneland dealt with the pandemic early and efficiently. Training has continued under specific protocols. Checkpoints have been set up at all gates. Individuals with a temperature higher than 100.5 degrees are not admitted. They also must be showing no symptoms of the coronavirus. The track kitchen has extended its hours to 6 p.m.

On May 22, Keeneland submitted a request to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s Race Dates Committee for a five-day Summer Meet, to be held Wednesday, July 8 through Sunday, July 12. Under the current safety protocols, the Summer Meet would be held without spectators.

Churchill Downs’ owned Turfway Park closed its winter meet early on March 28, losing three race dates.

Churchill Downs has postponed the running of the 146th Kentucky Derby from the first Saturday in May (May 2) to the first Saturday in September (September 5).

On May 12, Churchill Downs released a preliminary list of races that could be used for the extension of the “Road to the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve,” pending agreeable race placement by the host tracks.

Additionally, the first race in the extended series, the $150,000 Matt Winn (Grade III) on May 23 at Churchill Downs, will have Top 4 points raised from the previously announced 10-4-2-1 to 50-20-10-5.

Mike Ziegler

Mike Ziegler

“Based on measured interest from horsemen and limited racing opportunities for 3-year-olds across the country, the Matt Winn at the home of the Kentucky Derby appears to be the lone race in May on the national calendar for horsemen to use as a prep to possible important stakes engagements in mid-to-late June,” said Mike Ziegler, Churchill Downs Incorporated’s Executive Director of Racing. “For that reason, we’re pleased to be able to fill the void and raise the significance of the Matt Winn.” 

The other two legs of horse racing’s Triple Crown – the Preakness (GI) and Belmont (GI) – have yet to be rescheduled. Should those races be scheduled in advance of the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby, points to the Top 4 finishers will be worth 150-60-30-15.

          “We’re in the midst of an unprecedented year, and this year’s Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown will be one of the most memorable of our lifetimes,”

Ziegler said. “There are a lot of moving parts and there are still a lot of unanswered questions, including who will be running and when. We’ve had great conversations with our partner racetracks and believe we’ve identified the best extension to a most unique Road to the Kentucky Derby. This will continue to evolve, including date placement, as host tracks firm up their plans.”

          The following races, separated by region, have been added to the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Once the New York Racing Association finalizes their stakes schedules, eligible races could be added to the series:

·      East: Haskell (100-40-20-10) and Pegasus (20-8-4-2) at Monmouth Park.

·      Midwest: Matt Winn (50-20-10-5); Indiana Derby (20-8-4-2); Blue Grass (100-40-20-10); and Ellis Park Derby (50-20-10-5).

·      West: Santa Anita Derby (100-40-20-10); Los Alamitos Derby (20-8-4-2); and Del Mar’s Shared Belief (50-20-10-5).

Because this is an unprecedented and fluid situation, all races are subject to change and events could be added or removed. Additionally, the point values for each race will be subject to readjustment based on their proximity to all Triple Crown races.

Additionally, the following races, separated by region, have been added to the Road to the Kentucky Oaks. Once the New York Racing Association finalizes their stakes schedules, eligible races could be added to the series:

- East: Delaware Oaks (50-20-10-5) and Monmouth Oaks (50-20-10-5).

- Midwest: Dogwood (20-8-4-2); Indiana Oaks (20-8-4-2); Ashland (100-40-20-10); and Beaumont (20-8-4-2).

- West: Santa Anita Oaks (100-40-20-10).

A phased, systematic and controlled return of horses and their personnel to the stable areas at Churchill Downs, started on Monday, May 11.

A revised stakes schedule and condition book for the schedule of races is now available - click here to access.

Ellis Park is still scheduled to open on June 28 and concludes September 6. To help horsemen, the Kentucky Equine Economic Advocate (KEEP) has a link to information about services at https://horseswork.com/covid-19-resources.

Information is available regarding contacts, resources, unemployment insurance, latest news and pending legislation. There is also a link to the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce about who’s hiring, resources for employers and advice for small businesses concerning the Disaster Loan Program.

As far as breeding goes, Gray Lyster, president of the Consignors Breeders Association (CBA) in Lexington, said, “We actually had a board meeting online. We’re wondering about farms and sales. What are public sales going to look like in the future? Up to $200 million in two-year-old sales need to happen. That’s at the top of the list.” Lyster said he advised CBA membership “to get familiar with video cameras. Nobody knows where we’re going to be. Things seem to be changing by the day, or by the minute.” Lyster said at farms, vets are wearing masks 100 percent of the time, social distancing is practiced, and contact is being limited whenever possible. “We’ve stopped nonessential work, be it tree trimming or adding a barn,” he said. “Elective surgeries are not being done. But the breeding season has gone on.”

Gray Lyster, president of the Consignors Breeders Association (CBA).

Gray Lyster, president of the Consignors Breeders Association (CBA).

LOUISIANA As of April 14, all four tracks: Fair Grounds, Delta Downs, Evangeline Downs and Louisiana Downs are currently closed for racing. Fair Grounds, which began its traditional winter meet on Thanksgiving Day, lost six racing days before its scheduled closing March 29 because of the pandemic. The track remains open for training.

On May 5, Louisiana Downs was given clearance by the Louisiana State Racing Commission during a May Thoroughbred meet June 6 and continue until Sept. 23. The sole graded race to be run at the meet (Super Derby Gr. 3) has been cancelled with the purse money being redistributed to overnight races.

Delta Downs, Evangeline Downs and Louisiana Downs were closed but then ordered to reopen for training on April 10 by Judge Sharon Wilson in-accordance with an emergency order issued by the Louisiana State Racing Commission. Boyd Gaming, which owns Delta Downs and Evangeline Downs, filed a temporary restraining order against the LSRC order citing the pandemic.

Boyd argued that opening their facilities posed “a significant risk that by calling back their employees back to work, they may be exposed to the coronavirus and could become sick or die.” Boyd was not allowing training on its two tracks. According to Keith Smith—president and CEO of Boyd Gaming Corporation—Boyd closed all of its 29 properties in 10 states over the course of six days because of the pandemic.

On May 15 the Louisiana Horsemen's Benevolent and

Protective Association issued a statement to say that Boyd Gaming were looking at June 5 as the new opening day, with fifty racing days applied for. Racing would be held on a Wednesday to Saturday schedule.

MARYLAND On the order of the Maryland governor, Laurel Park’s meet, which began February 15, ended on March 15.

On May 16 it was confirmed by Belinda Stronach that this years Preakness Stakes would run at Pimlico on October 3.

“All of us are hopeful that racing can resume, even without fans if necessary,” Cricket Goodall of the Maryland Thoroughbred Breeders Association said. “Laurel was racing for two weeks without fans when the governor really closed everything.” Legislation, which would greatly enhance racing at both Laurel Park and Pimlico, passed earlier this year. “It still needs to be signed by the governor,” Goodall said. “It would be huge. You’re going to have essentially brand-new facilities. I think it will be a huge boon for racing and breeding.”

On May 8 Laurel Park released a Conditions Book for the first 15 days of the meet but have yet to announce when the first day back will be. The Conditions Book can be viewed by following this link

MINNESOTA Canterbury Park opened its stable area May 8. A revised racing schedule will be announced shortly. Those wishing to ship to Canterbury must be pre-approved for entry and schedule arrival times for their horses. On May 13 Canterbury Park submitted a revised racing plan to the Minnesota Racing Commission, seeking a 52-day meet to begin June 10 and finishing on Sept. 9. The plan shows for racing to be held on a Monday to Thursday schedule.

NEBRASKA See “Last Five Standing” article about Fonner Park.

Fonner Park

NEW JERSEY Monmouth Park’s 56 day meet has been trimmed to 36 dates, and opening day has been delayed from May 2 to July 3. The barn area will open June 1. The Monmouth-at-Meadowlands this fall has been cut from 19 days to 15. “The few tracks that are open are doing good business, and I wish we were open. But the bottom line is that this is a very scary pandemic, and it could cause a lot of people to not only get sick, but die; so we have to be serious about it,” Dennis Drazin, chairman and CEO of Monmouth Park, told The Blood-Horse April 21.

NEW MEXICO Sunland Park closed on March 16 and postponed the Sunland Derby and Sunland Oaks. Albuquerque Downs is temporarily closed. Its Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meet is scheduled to run from July 17 through September 2. Meanwhile, Ruidoso Downs is still scheduled to open on May 22, with the first horses allowed to ship in from the first week in May. Racing will be conducted on a mainly Saturday and Sunday schedule, through September 7.

NEW YORK On May 16 New York Governor Andrew Cuomo that all racetracks in the state can resume racing June 1. Belmont Park will reopen on June 3 and will race for 25 days. Racing will be held on a Thursday to Sunday schedule with closing day on July 12.

The 2020 running of the Belmont Stakes will be on June 20 over a revised distance of one mile and one eighth. A revised stakes schedule has now been published.

Specifically, NYRA will clean all high-touch areas and facilities; post coronavirus updates in English and Spanish; allow entry through Gate 6 only with health testing including temperature taking; not allow shippers except those with extenuating circumstances approved by NYRA; allow the Morning Line cafe and the track kitchen to continue to offer grab-and-go options, and the clockers’ stand will be limited to only essentially safety personnel. Martin Zapata, a 63-year-old groom for trainer Tom Morley, died of the coronavirus on April 7. “Martin was a beloved member of our team for the past two years who always greeted you at the door with a huge smile,” Morley said. “He’ll be sorely missed by all those in the New York racing community.” Morley started a Gofundme project in Zapata’s memory.

New York’s Aqueduct Racetrack is serving as a temporary hospital amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

NYRA still plans to begin the Saratoga meet July 14, but it has delayed the opening of the Oklahoma Training Track and Saratoga stabling area, which were scheduled to open April 15, due to the coronavirus. NYRA is working with the New York State Gaming Commission and public health agencies to determine an appropriate date to safely open the Oklahoma for training and stabling.

The delay does not impact the start of the Saratoga racing season, which is scheduled to begin July 16 and run through September 7. “While we are monitoring the current conditions and consulting with the New York State Department of Health, we are planning for Saratoga to open as scheduled and run in its entirety across the 40-day meet,” NYRA Spokesperson Pat McKenna said. “We are working in earnest each and every day to prepare for the 2020 Saratoga season.”

In the interim, with no live racing in New York, the New York Race Track Chaplaincy of America has launched a gift drive for its food pantry that will benefit backstretch workers. Donations through June 6 will be matched up to $25,000 by a member of the NYRA Board of Directors. The Chaplaincy is accepting both monetary and food donations. For more information about what to donate and the drop-off location, contact info@rtcany.org or text 516-428-5267. On April 15, the Backstretch Employee Service Team of New York (BEST) is seeking additional donations. BEST operates the BEST Health Center on the Belmont Park backstretch. BEST has a staff of 15 and numerous volunteers. They provide backstretch workers free health care, life insurance, drug and mental health counseling, as well as food and clothing. Donations can be made via www.bestbackstretch.org/ donate.

On April 21, NYRA and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association announced they will match the per-start aftercare contribution by New York owners to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) through the end of the canceled Aqueduct spring meet. New York owners donate $10 per start to the TAA, and NYRA matches that donation. That will amount to a $24,000 donation to the TAA.

Meanwhile, Finger Lakes in Farmington, N.Y., have announced that they are planning to open for training on June 1 and to resume live racing July 13. The meet is scheduled to end November 25.

Finger Lakes HBPA Executive Director Austin Reed said he’s hopeful the track can still run a meet of 85 to 90 days. In the absence of live racing, the Finger Lakes HBPA, in conjunction with racetrack management, will send out checks of $25 to trainers for every start they made during the 2019 Finger Lakes meet and checks of $100 to owners for every start they made during the 2019 meet. The estimated cost of $827,000 will be funded through the canceled race days this year and a reduced stakes program. “It’s designed to be a shot in the arm for our trainers and owners,” Finger Lakes HBPA President Chris Vaccaro told Horse Racing Nation April 21. “Our horsemen continue to feed and take care of their horses with no way to earn income to defray the cost, adding to their financial hardship.”

OHIO Belterra Park suspended its April 24th opener until June 4. Horses that are based in Kentucky and Ohio can begin shipping in the from May 30. The first day of training on track will be June 1, from then, horses from other states can also begin shipping into the stable area. 

JACK Thistledown has slated its first day or racing for June 4. The meet will last through October 22 with racing conducted on on Monday to Thursday schedule.

Mahoning Valley closed on March 20 but the backstretch has remained open. With the reopening of both Belterra Park and Thistledown, remaining horses at Mahoning Valley must vacate the track by May 31.

OKLAHOMA See “Last Five Standing” article about Will Rogers Downs.

PENNSYLVANIA On April 18, a Twitter message from Toss Mostoller (executive director of the Pennsylvania Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association) said that Churchill Downs-owned Presque Isle Downs, whose meet was scheduled to run from May 11 to October 22, will open its backstretch on May 15 and open its season on June 8. If new information arises to change that schedule, the meet will open on June 22. Parx, which operates year round, closed until further notice. Penn National, which operates year round, is temporarily closed.

TEXAS Lone Star Park, which was supposed to open April 16, planned to reopen the backstretch in the first week of May. Training on track will be permitted, yet there is no date set for racing to start up again. On May 18 Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, issued an executive order which will permit the reopening of the state's racing from May 22. 

On March 20, Sam Houston Race Park canceled the final four days of its Thoroughbred meet. It also canceled its Quarter Horse meet that had been slated to begin April 10.

VIRGINIA The governor has ordered a lockdown through June 10. Colonial Downs meet is scheduled from July 23 through August 29. “As of now, we’re going forward with that plan,” Jill Byrne, Vice President of Racing at Colonial Downs, said. “The stable area is scheduled to open July 9. We’ll be following all state and federal guidelines and protocols. We’ll be putting stall applications on our website: www.colonialdowns.com. Everything will be on there. It’s a long way off. Fingers crossed for everything.” Debbie Easter, executive director of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association and president of the Virginia Equine Alliance, said, “For us, just like everyone else, I worry about the fund for our breeders and owner awards that are distributed in the Mid-Atlantic. Hopefully, we’re going to run.”

WASHINGTON Emerald Downs will reopen on June 22, initially running on Monday and Tuesday schedule and when spectators are allowed, it will revert to a more traditional Friday to Sunday schedule. Closing day will be October 4. The 85th running of the Longacres Mile is to be run on September 13,

WEST VIRGINIA Both Charles Town and Mountaineer Park have been cleared to resume racing. On May 14, Charles Town Races restarted their meet and was also able to establish a new track record for the largest non-Charles Town Classic day handle in track history with $4,330,203 being wagered over the course of the nine race program.                                                       

The all-sources total for Charles Town’s first day back represents the fifth largest handle in the track’s near 87-year history trailing only the Charles Town Classic events held in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2019. 

“After the hard work of so many at the track, within the HBPA and at the state level, we’re incredibly proud to be able to re-establish racing for our community and our horseplayers”, said Charles Town’s Vice President of Racing & Sports Operations, Erich Zimny. “There was unquestionably a heightened morale at our property tonight, which is a very welcomed sight during such a difficult time.”

CANADA

ONTARIO Woodbine’s opener on April 18 was canceled and will now be held on either June 6.

The 161st Queen’s Plate will now run on September 12 and the The Woodbine Oaks and The Plate Trial are pencilled in to be run on August 15.

There is limited training for the 1,100 Thoroughbreds stabled at Woodbine and horses have been able to breeze since May 1. Timed workouts are expected to available from the middle of the month. Horsemen can get relief to get through this period of non-racing through the Ontario Racing Commission’s agreement with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, which provides $1,500 per month for Ontario Thoroughbreds in training. Two-year-olds are included as of June 1. Hastings Race Course in Vancouver, British Columbia, re-opened May 1 for stabling and training.

Jim Lawson – Woodbine https://www.ustream.tv/embed/recorded/126367763

WINNIPEG Assiniboia Downs will open its live racing season May 25. Racing without will take place on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. CDT. The meet is scheduled to finish on September 15.

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Thoroughbred Sales Assessment

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By Tom O’Keeffe

The Beaufort Cottage Educational Trust Gerald Leigh Memorial Lectures took place this year at the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket and a host of international and local veterinary specialists and industry leaders were present to discuss the veterinary aspects of the sales selection of the thoroughbred. 

Gerald Leigh was a prominent breeder and racehorse owner until his death in 2002; and his friend and vet Nick Wingfield Digby opened the seminar and introduced the speakers. The Gerald Leigh Charitable Trust has established this annual lecture series to provide a platform for veterinary topics relating to the thoroughbred to be discussed amongst vets and prominent members of the industry. 

Sir Mark Prescott described his take on the sales process and some of the changes he has noted since his early involvement in the industry. He recalled how the first Horses in Training sale he attended had only 186 horses. In those early days, his role was to sneak around the sales ground stables late at night on the lookout for crib biters. Back then, there was no option to return horses after sale, and as a result, trainers preferred to buy horses from studs they were familiar with—a policy Sir Mark still follows to this day. 

Sir Mark went on to explain that he believes strongly that the manner in which an animal is reared has a strong bearing on their ability to perform at a later date. Sir Mark also mentioned that horses can cope with many conformational faults nowadays that would have been deemed unacceptable in his early years. He attributed this to improvements in ground conditions, such as watering and all-weather surfaces. 

Mike Shepherd, MRCVS, of Rossdales Equine Practice in Newmarket had been tasked with describing and discussing the sales examination from a veterinary viewpoint and in particular attempting to define what vets are trying to achieve in this process.

Shepherd’s key message was that the physical exam is the cornerstone of any veterinary evaluation. A vet examining a horse on the sales ground is not a guarantee that the horse will never have an issue—there is no crystal ball. Owners and trainers should be aware there are several limitations of the vetting process, and it is helpful to think in terms of a “pre-bid inspection” rather than a “pre-purchase examination”. The horse is away from its home environment, and this puts a lot of stress on the animal. In most cases, pre-purchase exercise is not possible, so conditions that are only apparent when the horse is exercising and in training may go undetected. 

Time is a major challenge, with both vendors and prospective purchasers pushing for everything to be done as quickly as possible. A busy sales vet may have a long list of horses to examine, and information on each must be transferred to their client coherently and clearly—all before the horse is presented for sale. It can be challenging  to acquire a detailed veterinary history. Previous surgeries, medication and vices displayed by the animal ought to be reported, but in many cases the person with the horse is not in a position to accurately answer questions on longer-term history. 

At Sales, ultrasonography of the heart (echocardiography) can be used to estimate heart size.

Everyone involved—the vendor, the prospective purchaser, and the auction house—wants the process to go ahead. The horse to be bought/sold and the vet can be seen as a stumbling block. Prospective purchasers may want the horse to be examined clinically, its laryngeal function examined by endoscope, radiographs of the horse’s limbs either reviewed or taken, ultrasound examinations of their soft tissue structures and heart performed. The role of the vet is to help the purchaser evaluate all this information and make an evidence-based decision on whether to purchase the horse.

Examining vets can face conflicts of interest when examining horses that are under the ownership or care of one of their clients. Shepherd explained how Rossdales, and some other practices involved in sales work, have a protocol that an examining vet will not perform a vetting on a horse in the care of one of their own clients, and will disclose to the prospective purchaser if the vendor is a client of the practice. It is crucial to avoid working for both buyer and seller as a conflict of interest becomes unavoidable.

It is also essential that the vet understands exactly what the horse is expected to do following the sale.  Thoroughbred horses in flat racing have short timescale targets and, as a result, certain parts of the examination carry more weight than others. For example, the knees and fetlock joints are commonly implicated in lameness in flat racehorses; thus particular attention must be paid to these joints when examining yearlings. Soft tissue injuries are impactful in all young thoroughbreds, but there is a particular emphasis on tendon integrity in the National Hunt racehorse because career-threatening tendon injuries are particularly prevalent in these horses. When evaluating potential broodmares, good feet are very relevant, and overall conformation is particularly important if the aim is to breed to sell. 

Vetting horses for clients aiming to pin hook their purchases places different requirements on the examining vet. These horses need to be able to cope with the preparation required for another sale, and they must also stand up to the scrutiny of vets at a later sale. The horse’s walk and conformation rank high in the foal/ yearling stage but may be judged to be less significant if the horse breezes in a fast time at a breeze up sale.

It is also critical that purchasers recognise that many of the common veterinary issues encountered in training are not detectable at the Sales stage. For example, subchondral fetlock pain (bone bruising), which is common in a large subset of thoroughbreds in training, is not accurately practicable in young thoroughbred prior entering training. 

For assessing laryngeal function, there is often concern that this may be too subjective. Dr Justin Perkins, of the Royal Veterinary College, has shown good agreement on endoscopic grading between experienced vets. However, horses’ laryngeal scores vary significantly day to day, and more worrying in the sales setting, one horse examined several times on the same day can have different scope grades. The gold standard in assessing the horse laryngeal function is an overground exercising endoscopy. This is not feasible on sales grounds, and purchasers should be aware that the limited purpose of a resting laryngeal scope is to exclude specific serious hereditary conditions and not to rule out problems which are only evident during exercise. Dorsal displacement of the soft palate cannot be accurately predicted at rest. Similarly, exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage or bleeding can be career limiting, yet once again in the juvenile thoroughbred, there is no way to predict this condition before the horse enters training.

Some conditions can affect some individuals yet be of little consequence in others. An example is kissing spines (impinging spinous processes), and whilst it can be a clinical issue in some individuals, it is commonly encountered in normal horses and therefore is very easy to over-interpret its significance.  

The Hong Kong vetting process is considered the gold standard in terms of assessing and examining a racehorse in training. Shepherd highlighted that some new rules have recently been introduced. There are now guidelines on measuring tendons, and horses with a superficial digital flexor tendon cross-sectional area of greater than 1.6cm2 are not allowed to be imported into Hong Kong because of a potential increased risk of tendon injury.

The use of medication in horses at the sales ground and early in their life is currently an area of controversy. The concern is that there may be longer-term impact. Penalties associated with the use of anabolic steroids are well documented: the horse will be placed under a lifetime ban if these drugs have been used. The British Horseracing Authority will also place a lifetime ban on horses which have received bisphosphonates.  Potentially, these drugs may have been given without the knowledge of the vendor, therefore client education and sales conditions will have to be adapted unless a sensible compromise can be reached to prevent a high-profile embarrassment for the authorities.


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Hit the Books!

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By Denise Steffanus

Continuing education for trainers and their assistants has been a topic kicked around the racing industry since 1999. In the world at large, continuing education is a standard requirement to maintain an occupational license. Even hair stylists must complete courses to renew their credentials. But horse trainers, who have the lives of horses and riders in their hands, do not.

The Jockey Club's inaugural Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit in 2006 identified the need for trainer continuing education to enhance equine welfare, health and safety. The Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) joined the movement in 2008 when it issued the model rule requiring trainers to complete at least four hours per calendar year of approved continuing education courses in order to maintain a current license. 

Model rules are suggested policies. They have no power of enforcement unless they are adopted by individual jurisdictions. The Jockey Club's Thoroughbred Safety Committee followed up by urging all racing jurisdictions to adopt the continuing education model rule. 

The initiative gained supporters, with the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, the North American Racing Academy (NARA), and the University of California-Davis joining forces to produce a series of 11 online modules called the Advanced Horsemanship Program. Cathy O'Meara, manager of Industry Initiatives for the Jockey Club, coordinates the program.

"The request from the industry was to provide an online platform for educational content that could be accessible for free to the industry and provide tracking," O'Meara said. "These [modules] were produced or reviewed by professors at NARA and UC-Davis, with most of the topics stemming from the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit. The system used is Articulate, which is a standard online course development program used by many universities."

The courses include timely issues, such as bisphosphonate use in racehorses and the management of equine herpesvirus (EHV-1). Another module teaches trainers how to identify horses at risk for a breakdown. 

The UC-Davis modules on scapular and humeral fractures provide illustrations of the injuries that are reinforced by actual photos of the post-mortem examination of the fractured bones. The combination of the two, plus information about factors that contribute to these fractures, give trainers a better comprehension of what's going on inside the horse. 

As of mid-June, 365 participants had accessed the program, completing 715 course modules. When a participant has completed a course, he or she can specify which racing jurisdiction(s) to notify. At present, New York, California and Delaware accept these certifications of completion. O'Meara maintains a file of certificates for other jurisdictions to be provided to them if and when they adopt a continuing education program. 

The most popular course, with 106 completions, is UC-Davis' module on humeral fractures. The least popular course is "The Hoof Inside and Out," with only 20 completions. For a full list of the online courses, see the sidebar "Online Continuing Education Modules for Trainers and Assistants." These courses are free and open to the public.

New York: What not to do

New York is the only U.S. racing jurisdiction that requires continuing education for trainers and assistants. The New York State Gaming Commission approved the requirement in December 2016, mandating four hours of approved continuing education each calendar year as a requirement for license renewal, effective January 1, 2017. Those not domiciled in New York who have 12 or fewer starts during the previous 12 months may request a waiver of this requirement. 

The New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA) produced classroom presentations at the racetrack for horsemen to comply with the gaming commission's regulation. Online access to the continuing education program, which is available via YouTube, is simply a video of the classroom lectures, with no way to verify if the trainer actually watched the video. The gaming commission also accepts approved continuing education credits offered by the Grayson-Jockey Club, American Veterinary Medical Association-approved Colleges of Veterinary Medicine, other North American racing jurisdictions, and the ARCI.

The New York program fizzled. Nine days before the first year's deadline for compliance, a memo from Dr. Scott Palmer, the gaming commission's equine medical director, extended the deadline for compliance by 45 days, until February 15, 2018, because "many" trainers had not complied. What is interesting is that trainers need only email a form to the gaming commission that states they have completed the required continuing education courses. It's the honor system, with no proof required.  

Attendance at the classroom lectures has been sparse. A presentation on August 22, 2017, delivered by Palmer, was attended by 30 participants, with one man visibly asleep in his seat; a presentation on biosecurity on August 21, 2018, had just two attendees, with the corresponding YouTube video gaining just 18 views.

Claude “Shug” McGaughey III

Racing Hall of Fame trainer Claude "Shug" McGaughey III, who has mastered the powerhouse Phipps stable since 1985, expressed his frustrations, not with the program but with the way the gaming commission presented it. 

"It almost looked like, 'Well, you're a bunch of idiots, and you have to take this stuff to catch up.' And it was almost sort of a threatening gesture that if you didn't have it done, you weren't going to have a trainer's license," McGaughey said. "I called Dr. Palmer and he sent me the stuff, and I did it. There was some pretty interesting stuff in there. It was easy to do. But the threatening manner in which they did it didn't suit me."

McGaughey, with the help of NYTHA Executive Director Andrea "Andy" Belfiore, completed the online courses; plus he attended a classroom presentation on insurance. The 68-year-old trainer, who admitted, "I'm not really good with all that tech stuff," said it all was easier once he had some help. And the information presented was so interesting, he recommended it to his assistant and his son.

 McGaughey said the gaming commission needs to brush up on its public relations.

"I think that probably the biggest mistake they made was when they kind of came out and were as aggressive as they were about it," he said. "A lot of times it doesn't hurt to explain to people in person instead of just online or in a memo or something. 

"Don't make it look like we don't know what we're doing. I've been doing this for 40 years, and I'm not a genius, but I've got some sort of idea of what the rules are, what you need to do, how you get licensed, and all that kind of stuff. And I don't really need to have somebody throwing that in my face. So I would think that maybe if they had presented it a little better, if they would present it better, some of the stuff that they do, they just didn't handle it, I think, in the right direction."

Todd Pletcher, who has amassed 40 leading-trainer titles in New York since 1998, criticized the lack of communication regarding the program…

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Recruiting runners - The lengths that different tracks are going to maximize fields for their races

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By Bill Heller

Remember the classic poster of Uncle Sam pointing at you saying, “I Want You” that was used to attract soldiers for World War I and II? Uncle Sam wanted you for the Army.

Picture a race secretary pointing at you exclaiming, “We Want You.” Not soldiers for the Army, of course, but shippers needed to fill their daily race cards.

The need has never been greater, thanks to a foal crop that has plummeted in the last two decades.

Asked if the New York Racing Association has had trouble filling fields, Martin Panza, NYRA’s Senior Vice President of Racing Operations, said in late February, “What racetrack in America doesn’t? The number of horses has greatly dropped.”

He’s not kidding. The Jockey Club reported that the foal crop has dropped from 40,333 in 1990 to 19,925 in 2018.

What makes those numbers even more impactful is that race tracks these days are trying to sustain year-round racing.

In response, several tracks have been offering incentives for shippers. And the leader of the pack is Del Mar’s Ship and Win Program—which is in a partnership with the Thoroughbred Owners of California—has been offering incentives since 2011. “We set the bar very high,” Del Mar Racing Secretary David Jerkens said. “It’s a lucrative program. It’s an attractive enhancement.”

And Jerkens said this year’s programs at both Del Mar meet in the summer and the fall and will be enhanced from last year when field size for the summer increased from 8.5 in 2017 to 8.7 in 2018. The amount of the increase in bonus payments was expected to be announced in April.

“Last year we had 107 horses participate just in the summer and 49 in the fall,” Jerkens said. “Any time you can add more than 100 horses to your inventory, that’s beneficial. Bigger fields create larger handle and larger purses.”

Here’s how it works...

When it began, Del Mar offered a $1,000 check for shippers making their first local start plus a 20% bonus on top of whatever purse money was earned in that first start. Those numbers grew last year to a $2,000 check and a 30% bonus. To qualify, a horse must have made his last start outside California and not raced in the state the previous 12 months. First-time starters are not eligible.

To date, more than 1,000 horses have participated in Ship and Win. According to Del Mar, those horses have made more than 1,500 starts at its track and more than 3,500 starts at other tracks in California.

Surprisingly, most of the benefactors of Del Mar’s program are local horsemen. “Seventy percent of our starters from Ship and Win have been local owners and local horses,” Jerkens said.

Trainer Bob Hess, whom Jerkens said is the “poster boy for the program,” has been on-board with it from day one. “This is a wonderful program,” Hess said. “I have horses at Gulfstream Park, and I try to bring at least 10 horses to Del Mar. It’s been great. It’s been a win-win. It’s obviously good for Del Mar, but it’s also good for Santa Anita because horses come here and stay here.”

Trainer Richard Baltas is another fan of Ship and Win. “The idea is to get them here,” he said. “I claimed a horse at Keeneland last year, then, after the meet was over, I brought him back here and he won twice. People transfer horses out here from back East. Obviously, it could always be better, but we definitely need something. A lot of trainers don’t have money to buy new horses. No horses mean small fields. It’s a problem in California.”

The program helps solve that problem. “The idea is to get horses to ship to California, and, hopefully, they stay in California,” Jerkens said. “So it benefits Santa Anita and Los Alamitos, too.”

To maximize that possibility, Santa Anita began offering its own “Ship and Stay” Program in 2017. Originally, the program offered non-California-bred horses who last started outside California and had not raced in the state the previous year a 20% bonus for the horse’s first start at Santa Anita and a 10% bonus of $1,000—whichever was higher—for a horse’s second and third starts. All that money was split between the horse’s owner and trainer.

The program has been tweaked, and this year bonuses will be given to the trainer only: 10% for a first start and 10% or $1,000—whichever is higher—for the horse’s second and third starts.

In any fashion, Santa Anita’s program strengthens the Del Mar program—a fact not lost on Panza, who was the Director of Racing at Hollywood Park before taking his job with NYRA. “I’d been in California and saw what Del Mar did,” Panza said. “It works at Del Mar. We did it at Hollywood Park. It’s a good idea. It makes sense.”

Accordingly, he had NYRA initiate its own shipping-incentive program in 2018, one it is continuing this year for shippers who come to race at either Aqueduct or Belmont Park. “We did Oaklawn and Gulfstream Park last year,” Panza said. “We did expand it a bit. I don’t think we have to do it. But it makes sense to get horses back in New York. It makes business sense. We just want to help the owners. This helps a bit. Give any owner some help with expenses.”

NYRA’s program this year offered incentive for horsemen based at Fair Hill Training Center, Oaklawn Park, Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs who raced during the Aqueduct Spring Meet from April 5 through April 20, or during the Belmont Park Spring/Summer meet from April 26 through July 7. Those horses’ owners will be credited with an $800 shipping stipend, excluding stakes races.

A first-time starter must have had their previous three works at Fair Hill to be eligible or display a pattern of workouts at Fair Hill, as determined by NYRA.

Additionally, horses who made their previous start at Oaklawn Park were eligible to NYRA’s Ship and Win Program, which offered a 30% purse bonus for their first two starts as well as a $1,500 shipping stipend for a start during the Aqueduct Spring Meet and the Belmont Park Spring/Summer Meet, excluding stake races.

Shippers who made their previous start at Gulfstream Park or Tampa Bay Downs were eligible for a shipping subsidy for a start during the Aqueduct Spring Meet, excluding stakes races. Owners who shipped horses from either Florida track and made their first New York start from March 8 through the 31st received $2,000. Florida shippers making their first New York start from April 5 through April 20 were credited $1,500.

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Exercising Horse Sense Part II: Precautions and protections when hiring exercise riders

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By Peter J. Sacopulos

This is the second article in a two-part series on managing legal and tax liabilities when hiring exercise riders. Part I examined recent incidents involving riders, how to assure a rider’s status as an independent contractor and hiring basics. This instalment focuses on insurance protection for trainers and riders, equine liability laws and proper safety procedures and equipment.

It Is Not Personal, It Is Business

This article addresses ways in which professional trainers may reduce their risks and limit their liabilities when hiring exercise riders. However, when it comes to discussing insurance to protect your training business, I must first broaden the topic in order to address some popular misconceptions regarding insurance in general. Whether you view insurance as a necessary evil or as a peace-of-mind protection that is worth the cost, the topic cannot be avoided, especially if you are a professional horse trainer.

The first thing a trainer must understand in insuring his or her training business is that there are clearly defined differences between personal insurance coverage and business insurance coverage. Personal insurance policies are designed to cover you and your family’s personal needs, such as your home, its contents, and vehicles that are not typically used for business purposes. Personal policies are not designed to provide insurance for businesses or business activities. Nor do they cover the property, vehicles, tools and equipment that are primarily used in the conduct of business. Those need to be protected by a commercial insurance policy, commonly referred to as business insurance. Unfortunately, many small business owners and other individuals fail to review the full details of their coverage and do not realize this until it is too late. Here are two examples:

The owner of a lawn-mowing business had his commercial-grade lawn mowers stolen from the garage of his home. He had stored the mowers there for years and assumed his personal homeowner’s insurance policy would cover the loss. However, because the mowers were used for business purposes, the insurer refused to pay the claim. Faced with the high cost of replacing the mowers, the man chose to shutter his lawn care business.

A college student decided to earn extra money by signing up to drive for an online-based meal delivery service. He was involved in an automobile accident while using his car to deliver restaurant lunches to an office building. No one was injured, but the student’s car was totaled, and another individual’s vehicle was significantly damaged. The student was found to be at fault. Both he and his parents assumed the family’s personal auto insurance policy would cover the costs. But the insurance company was not obligated to pay because the accident occurred while the vehicle was being used for commercial purposes. The family wound up paying thousands of dollars out-of-pocket to repair the other driver’s vehicle and then had to take out a loan to replace the student’s car.

As Kevin Lavin, a partner in Lavin Equine Insurance Services of Louisville, Ky., explains, equine professionals are not immune to overestimating the scope of their personal insurance coverage. “People may believe that because a horse lives in a barn on their property, their homeowner’s policy covers their equine business activity. That’s just not the case.”

Liability Coverage Matters

When purchasing insurance, it is important to understand the nature of liability coverage. Insurance claims are most often paid to the policyholder. If, for instance, you have business coverage on the saddles and tack that are used in the course of training and those items are stolen, your business insurer would reimburse you for the value of the lost items according to the terms of your policy.

Business liability coverage is designed to pay legitimate claims made against the business by third parties. (The insurance company and the insured being the first two parties.) For example, if you are backing up a truck and trailer at a gas station after a race and accidentally collide with and injure another customer, that gas station customer is a third party who has been injured in the course of your business. A commercial insurance policy on your vehicle and trailer would cover the injured person’s claim—up to the specific limits of the policy, minus any deductibles or shared payments—of paying for any necessary medical care for the person. Should the injured party file or threaten to file a lawsuit demanding more payment, the insurance company would investigate. If the demands are determined to be legitimate, the insurance company would work to settle those claims within the amounts specified by the policy to avoid the costs of going to court. Should the matter go to court, the insurance company would provide legal counsel and pay legal costs and judgments against your business up to the amounts specified by your policy.  

Equine Experience Matters

If you are an independent trainer, you should protect your business and its assets with a commercial insurance policy. It is a serious mistake to believe your personal insurance policy(ies) will do so. Consult with a qualified agent to be certain you have proper commercial coverage, including adequate liability protection.

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State of Minnesota racing and breeding

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By Ted Grevelis

When the gates open for Canterbury Park’s first race on May 3, 2019, it will mark the 25th season of operation under public ownership led by the Sampson and Schenian families. Minnesota racing was down and out for the count after debuting in 1985 at then-Canterbury Downs with much fanfare and seam-bursting crowds. Through management changes and the development of Native American gaming just down the street at Little Six and then Mystic Lake, the track spiraled downward into unprofitability before being mothballed by Ladbrokes in 1993.

In 1994, Curtis Sampson and Dale Schenian stepped in, reopened the racetrack and began the great Minnesota racing turnaround. One of Curtis’ sons, Randy, is the track’s current CEO and president while another son, Russell, runs the family’s racing and breeding operation.

“That’s the only reason this racetrack is here,” said Andrew Offerman, Canterbury’s Senior Director of Racing. “Horsemen bought it because this is what they wanted to do. There are certainly still differences of opinion between management and horsemen on what should be done on some issues, but the differences are so minor compared to what faces other places because of the people that are here running things.”

Kay King

“We are fortunate here in Minnesota,” said Kay King, Executive Director of the Minnesota Thoroughbred Association, “that track management, the HBPA, owners, trainers—everyone can work together on a common cause. There is not the friction that you hear about elsewhere. I have people from other states tell me that they can’t believe that the MTA and the MQHRA work together on issues and put on a barbeque for backside workers together because in their states the Thoroughbred and quarter horse folks couldn’t get along long enough to do that.”

The track still had to compete with Native interests as well as stiff competition for the recreation dollar in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area.

In 2012, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC)—proprietors of Little Six and Mystic Lake Casinos—and the track entered into an historic joint marketing agreement, leaving their animus in the past and moving into the future as partners.

The agreement provided the purse account with $75 million over ten years. The track and SMSC agreed to work together to promote the region and resist the expansion of gaming. The pair teamed with the nearby Renaissance Festival and Valleyfair Amusement Park to market themselves as River South, an area in the south metro to stay and play.

Thanks to the agreement, purses have increased substantially. In 2011, the year prior to the agreement, total purse distribution equaled $6,172,707. For the 2018 meet, that amount nearly doubled, rising to $13,316,050.

Because some of the money from the SMSC agreement has been dedicated to the Minnesota-bred stakes program, breeding is also on the upswing. The year prior to the SMSC agreement, the foal crop was 153 registered foals. The 2013 crop—the first post agreement—jumped to 253 registered foals. The number since then has remained relatively steady with quality increasing every year.

The only requirement to have a Minnesota-bred foal is the mare has to be in the state by March 15 prior to foaling.  

The tentative 2019 Canterbury Park Stakes schedule features 18 state-bred stakes with over $1.3 million up for grabs.

It is not only the owners of Minnesota-breds that are making money, but their breeders as well. While purse supplements for Minnesota-breds totaled $325,435 in 2018, breeder awards increased 4% over 2017 to $460,595, while stallion awards increased 2% to $85,527. Total added money, either breeding or racing, was $871,557 for 2018.

“I think you’re going to see some phenomenal pedigrees this year,” said Dave Dayon, owner of Wood-N-Wind Farm, a leading breeding and foaling farm in Minnesota. “We have a Quality Road and an Orb from this year, and I just got the list for 2019 that are coming in for Lothenbach Stables: we’ll have a Kitten’s Joy, two Malibu Moons, a Speightstown and others—and I have 14 mares from him this season.”

Dean Benson

Breeder Dean Benson of Wood Mere Farm foaled out an American Pharoah colt earlier this year—the first time a Triple Crown winner has sired a Minnesota-bred.

“My client was very involved in Illinois, but he was seeing what has happened to that program so he decided to get involved in Minnesota,” said Benson.  “And he did it in a big way.”

The increase in Minnesota-bred quality has also made its way into the sales ring.

The market for quality-bred horses is better than it has ever been. The 2018 MTA yearling sale had a six-figure horse for the first time in its history. The pairing of Discreet Cat and Gypsy Melody—a six-figure earning, stakes-winning mare—produced a colt that sold for $100,000 to Novogratz Racing Stable.

“I have a client who had a Quality Road,” said Benson. “He foaled in Kentucky but ended up being bought back in a Kentucky sale. If he had bred and sold him up here, I know he would have piqued the interest of the big owners, and he would have got the money for him.”

“Over the last few years we are slowly starting to see an increase in buyers here at our sale,” said King. “We’re starting to see buyers who realize that a Minnesota-bred can bring money. There was always that ‘glass ceiling’ of around $50,000, which was as high as folks would go for a Minnesota-bred. This year we shattered that with three of the forty horses sold, bringing more than $50,000 including the $100,000 gelding.”

King and her husband bred the sales topper from 2017, an Astrology colt out of former Minnesota champion Bella Notte named Notte Oscura, which sold for $37,000 to Paul Schaffer. Schaffer turned around and did what was thought to be impossible: he pin-hooked the Minnesota-bred in the 2018 April OBS Sale for $160,000.

In the October 2017 Fasig-Tipton yearling sale, a Minnesota-bred yearling became the highest priced gelding ever sold at auction. The son of Maclean’s Music and Mesa Mirage, bred by Almar Farms, brought $200,000. The yearling, subsequently named Mister Banjoman, won this year’s Shakopee Juvenile, a $75,000 unrestricted stakes race and finished the season with two wins and a second in four starts, only faltering in his turf debut in the Indian Summer Stakes at Keeneland.

Mr Jagermeister

Mr. Jagermeister, a Minnesota-bred and owned by trainer Valorie Lund and her sisters, has won seven of twelve starts, amassed $308,975 and finished second in the Prairie Gold Juvenile at Prairie Meadows and the Bachelor Stakes at Oaklawn.

“People are seeing that there is value to Minnesota-bred horses,” said King. “People are making wise breeding decisions.”

Quality pedigree Minnesota-breds are selling for considerably more money than ever—locally and around the country—and competing favorably against all comers.


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Exercising Horse Sense Part I: Avoiding Grey Areas When Hiring Exercise Riders

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By Peter J. Sacopulos

This is the first article in a two-part series on managing your legal and tax liabilities when hiring exercise riders. It examines recent accidents involving riders, how to ensure a rider’s status as an independent contractor, and hiring basics. Part II will focus on available insurance protection for trainers and riders, as well as proper safety regulations, procedures and equipment, and equine liability laws.




A Series Of Tragic Events

Shortly before 6:00 a.m. on November 11, 2018, Odanis Acuna, a long-time exercise rider at Churchill Downs, was taking two-year-old New York Harbor through a routine workout. Acuna was breezing the unraced colt when it suddenly broke down, sending both horse and rider crashing to the ground. The track’s EMTs responded quickly, but Acuna had sustained catastrophic head and neck injuries in the fall. He died shortly after their arrival. Odanis “Cuba” Acuna was admired for his horse skills, work ethic, upbeat personality and devotion to his family. He was 42 years old at the time of his death.

An exercise rider

The tragedy was one in a number of recent accidents involving exercise riders. Just 14 months earlier, Darren Fortune was killed when a horse he was exercising bolted after gallop at Woodbine in Toronto. Like Acuna, 43-year-old Darren Fortune was a highly seasoned pro who impressed many with his horse skills, people skills and work ethic. In addition to his morning sessions as an exercise rider, he worked as an outrider at Woodbine. Witnesses have stated that Fortune’s actions during the mishap that took his life very likely prevented other riders from being killed or injured.

Kellie Hedges, another highly experienced exercise rider who had also served an outrider, was severely injured while working at Belterra Park near Cincinnati, Ohio. On the morning of June 26, 2018, the horse Hedges was breezing fell forward, threw Hedges, rolled over her, then rose and sped off down the track. Two outriders eventually intercepted the runaway horse—a filly that, remarkably, was not hurt in the incident. Meanwhile, the severely injured Hedges lay on the track in a daze. The Paulick Report and local news coverage reported no outrider attended to Hedges while she was down. According to Hedges, the “clear the track” alert siren sounded only briefly, and Hedges says other riders and horses returned to the track and continued to work while she lay immobile.

Track-based EMTs appeared slow to respond to Hedges accident, and track security staff demanded Hedges exit the ambulance and be taken to track offices in order to verify her license. Eventually loaded onto another ambulance, Hedges was taken to the local hospital. After she arrived, emergency room physicians had her rushed to Cincinnati Medical Center, where she underwent emergency surgery to save a broken leg. Surgeries for other injuries followed. It is unclear if Kellie Hedges will ever ride again. Belterra has drawn sharp criticism for how the incident was handled.

Questions You Must Ask

As of this writing, none of the incidents mentioned above have resulted in a lawsuit being filed. But others have. All pose a series of questions that you should be asking yourself. As a trainer, do you know what your liability would be if an exercise rider you hired were injured or killed while working one of your horses? If a horse you are training were injured or killed while being exercised? If another horse or rider were injured or killed in an accident involving a horse you are training?

On an even more basic level, do you know how to ensure that a rider who works for you is viewed by the IRS and other government entities as an independent contractor, rather than an employee who adds to your tax and liability burdens? Are you familiar with the requirements for protective gear for riders? Or are you aware of the safety guidelines every exercise rider should be operating under on a daily basis?

The answer to any one of these questions could dramatically impact your ability to earn a living as a trainer, especially if something goes wrong. This article is designed to provide you with broad, general advice about such issues. Remember, regulations vary widely. You should seek professional legal and insurance advice when dealing with the specific needs of your business.

Employee vs. Independent Contractor

Under U.S. labor and tax laws, the IRS and other government entities draw a distinction between employees and independent contractors. State and local laws and tax regulations may also apply. Both an employee and an independent contractor may perform tasks for a company. But legally speaking, each is a distinctly different type of worker.

In North America, an employer is responsible for specific payments toward an employee’s Social Security, unemployment insurance and Medicare funding. Often, employers are also responsible for an employee’s worker compensation insurance funding and certain aspects of offering or providing employee health insurance. The employer is also responsible for payroll reporting to the employee and the IRS. At the end of each calendar year, the employer must provide each employee and the IRS with a completed W-2 form. Employees may work for an employer on a full-time or part-time basis, and the number of hours worked may affect certain aspects of what the government requires the employer to fund or provide on an employee’s behalf.

In short, an employee works for a business or organization. By contrast, an independent contractor performs work for an individual, business or organization but works for himself or herself as an independent business. This means that independent contractors are responsible for their own Social Security and Medicare funding (paid as self-employment taxes) as well as certain other payments. Independent contractors are also responsible for seeking out and paying for their own health insurance, retirement funding, disability insurance, and so forth. Any business that uses an independent contractor must pay the contractor for satisfactory work. The business must also provide a completed Form 1099 to both the independent contractor and the IRS if the business pays the independent contractor more than $600 in a calendar year. (Note: Independent contractors are also commonly referred to as freelancers, contract workers or contract laborers.)

So why doesn’t every business simply declare its employees to be independent contractors and save big on tax payments, perks and paperwork? Because the determination is not strictly up to the employer. Laws, tax regulations and guidelines apply, playing an essential role in determining which workers are employees and which workers are independent contractors. Failing to follow the rules invites major trouble, especially if an employer tries to commit fraud by passing off employees as independent contractors. Doing so can lead to a nightmare of make-up payments and paperwork, as well as severe tax penalties and criminal prosecution.


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Racing To Comply: How The New GDPR Internet Privacy Rules Affect Trainers And Other Equine Professionals

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By Peter Sacopulos

The Great Privacy Policy Alert

As the summer of 2018 began, every company doing business on the internet appeared to have developed a new user privacy policy overnight. Service providers, search engines, social media platforms, news sites, online retailers and others bombarded Americans with emails and pop-ups, urging users to review the new policies immediately and adjust their personal privacy settings accordingly. There is no official count of how many consumers dutifully clicked on links, doggedly read new rules, and deliberately updated their individual privacy preferences, or how many simply shrugged, ignored the alerts, and went on with their online lives.

Some who wondered what all the fuss was about may have thought the new privacy policies had something to do with recent headlines about corporate data breaches. Others may have associated them with the fallout of 2016’s US presidential election and UK Brexit referendum, after which reports emerged of foreign meddling online and a political consulting firm stealthily collecting data from tens of millions of Facebook users without their permission. (Criminal investigations are ongoing.) But many internet users knew the truth: the renewed focus on privacy was far from sudden and was the result of a European Union law known as the General Data Protection Regulation, that had been passed in 2016 and took effect on May 25, 2018.

The General Data Protection Regulation

Even though it is a European law, the General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR) has implications for Americans who use the internet to conduct their business. Horse trainers and other equine professionals are no exception. This article will address the basics of GDPR, how it affects American businesses, and the primary steps your business should take to achieve and maintain GDPR compliance. Make no mistake, spending the time and effort to do so now will go a long way toward avoiding legal headaches and financial penalties in the future.

Privacy policies exist to protect personal data. Personal data is defined by the European Union as: “…any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual….” It includes:  “…Different pieces of information, which collected together, can lead to the identification of a particular person….” In short, any form or combination of information that can tell others who you are is personal data. In the US, personal data is also referred to as personally identifiable information (PII) or sensitive personal information (SPI).

Personal data typically includes information that can allow others to locate, contact or monitor you. Examples of personal data include your first and last name, home address, email address, telephone number as well as an identification card number, such as your social security number, driver’s license number or passport number. In the digital age, it can also take far more subtle forms, including some you may not have even realized, such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address, your mobile phone location data or a “cookie” ID on your computer. Personal data does not include anonymous information, such as that found in statistics.

The Big Question

The General Data Protection Regulation is based on the answer to this increasingly important question: Who owns an individual’s personal digital data?

In the United States, the answer to that question is still being debated and, some privacy advocates would go so far as to say, avoided. But the countries that make up the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) have determined that, when their citizens are concerned, every individual owns his or her personal data, wherever it may appear online and however it may be gathered and used by others. The GDPR enshrines this principle of personal data ownership in law. It grants specific data privacy rights to individuals and sets out rules that businesses must follow when dealing with a consumer’s data. It mandates harsh financial penalties for businesses that violate those rules, along with strict notification standards whenever a business suffers a data breach.

The American Question

The first question most Americans will ask about the GDPR is obvious. Why would an American citizen doing business in the United States need to worry about complying with a European law?

Like nearly all businesses in the digital age, the vast majority of the Thoroughbred racing community routinely conducts business on the internet. And therein lies the answer to the American GDPR compliance riddle. The web truly is worldwide and that means your website, and any and all social media platforms you use (such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter and any Thoroughbred-biz-specific websites and platforms), are as easily accessed in Europe as they are in America. In the course of conducting business online, you can come into contact with a European citizen as easily as you do an American citizen.

The General Data Protection Regulation clearly states that when any business entity, based in any location, deals with a European citizen’s data, GDPR rules apply. But there are some important exceptions. If a European citizen’s data is collected while the individual is not physically in Europe, that data is not governed by the GDPR. If, for example, a German visiting America takes an online marketing survey while in New York and offers up personal information in the process, only American regulations regarding the use of that data would apply.

The GDPR also takes intentionality into account. Basic, broad-based, generic marketing materials are exempt from the law. If an Italian citizen who has in interest in Thoroughbred training happens across the English-language website of an American horse trainer whose services are only offered in the US, the GDPR does not come into play. But if an American trainer’s site appears to target European citizens, gathers information on them, or seeks to do business with them, GDPR rules do apply.

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