The Horsemen's Journal - Spring 2022

HORSEMEN’S THE

JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

Pedigrees Race Records

Portfolio Service Sire Reports Mare Produce Records Pedigree Binder & more!

OFFICIAL SPONSOR

OFFICIAL SPONSOR of the National HBPA of the National HBPA

The Jockey Club Information Systems, Inc. | 821 Corporate Drive | Lexington, KY 40503 | 800.333.1778 or 859.224.2800

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL CONTENTS | SPRING 2022 | VOLUME 69/#1

DEPARTMENTS

FEATURES

02

18

Message from the National HBPA

Conference Call Return to in-person National HBPA Conference at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Arkansas, sparks conversations about HISA, promoting the game, dealing with employees, fixed odds and other major industry issues

28 Veterinary, Medication and Due Process Issues

06

First look at the regulations from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act leaves plenty of unanswered questions

Industry News

42 The Other Meadow Stable Star Looking back at the remarkable career of champion Riva Ridge, 50 years removed from his run through the Triple Crown

11

34

HBPA News

49 Affiliate News For the Love of the Game Dedicated group of racing fans fuel their passion for the game through extensive memorabilia collections

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

1

MESSAGE FROM

THE CEO AN OPPORTUNITY NOT TO WASTE

NATIONAL HBPA 3380 Paris Pike Lexington, KY 40511 P (859) 259-0451 F (859) 259-0452 racing@hbpa.org www.hbpa.org

PRESIDENT/ CHAIRPERSON OF THE BOARD Dr. Doug Daniels SECRETARY/ TREASURER Lynne Schuller CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Eric J. Hamelback VICE PRESIDENT SOUTHERN REGION Rick Hiles VICE PRESIDENT CENTRAL REGION Joe Davis VICE PRESIDENT WESTERN REGION J. Lloyd Yother VICE PRESIDENT EASTERN REGION Sandee Martin

W

hile I know this to be true, I believe there needs to be a reminder in print that the members of HBPA affiliates do support national uniform medication rules.

It remains a part of our mission statement that easily can be seen on our website. Our members have long supported the development, adoption, implementation and enforcement of nationwide uniform rules that promote safety and integrity in racing. Long before I became CEO, the National HBPA promoted uniform medication rules based on published, scientifically determined regulatory thresholds, with scientifically established withdrawal time guidelines supported by data published in the scientific literature.

We all are concerned with the health and safety of our equine and human athletes, and we recognize the benefits of uniform governing rules for medication administration. However, as we look to the development of new rules under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), we must stand firm and advocate for the development of fair and thorough regulations that clearly define the administration and withdrawal times for routinely administered medications based on scientific, peer-reviewed research and not on presumptions.

That could not be further from what HISA apparently will do with the protocols for Lasix administration. Establishing rules with a restricted administration time for Lasix—48 hours now and eventually prohibited for all races, three years from now—is not based on research. If HISA calls for a three-year study on Lasix, why not perform the study before making such a dramatic change in medication protocols?

I maintain race-day administration is in the best interest of equine health and welfare. There’s an opportunity for all of us in the HBPA to work with the THA, CTT, TOC, TOBA and any other organization to force the issue of addressing Lasix-free racing. The issue is now being clearly framed that horses can safely run Lasix-free. The stage has been set.

We see the Breeders’ Cup qualifying races and the championship races themselves, along with all Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks point races and the spring classics themselves, along with many other races being run Lasix-free.

The responsible course of action would be to monitor and publish the results of such a significant medication change to support the position of Lasix-free racing for all races. In fact, I am under the impression from many trainers that a plethora of 2-year-olds at various tracks have already been scoped over the past two years, but no data has been produced for review. What were the results? These science-based results may well be the key to establishing the Lasix protocols for the industry.

With no results, we are left wondering. Did we follow consistent protocols of post-race examination for epistaxis?

Why is the definition of “bleeder” not including all grades of EIPH recognized by the AAEP? Does that mean if there is no epistaxis, an endoscopic examination was not performed on the upper and lower respiratory tract to determine if internal bleeding occurred? Does that mean no one compiled the results of essential equine veterinarian care by grading the results by the generally accepted scales? How long were horses laid off if pulmonary bleeding was detected? So many questions could be answered from the scoping already done at various racetracks throughout the country, even before or if HISA is implemented.

My fear, due to lack of transparency to date, is this: The post-race scoping done thus far did not support the initial thesis that horses can effectively and safely race without Lasix. I fear the data was not released because HISA’s supporters would be forced to admit that the veterinarians, horse owners and trainers who support science-based control of EIPH were justified from the start. On the flip side, if the testing and results do support the Lasix ban, the general acceptance of Lasix-free racing would have to be accepted. However, silence speaks volumes.

Rarely do we get the opportunity to force an issue when some choose to underestimate your position. With that, I have a goal for this year to do my best to fulfill the request from many trainers—force results to be handed over. The fact is that we do not know for certain if the results will be an advantage or disadvantage, but knowing the answers should give us confidence in how we continue to approach the issue of Lasix administration.

SINCERELY, ERIC J. HAMELBACK

2

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

THE

NATIONAL HBPA WOULD LIKE TO THANK ITS CORPORATE

AFFILIATES

ALEX EVERS/ECLIPSE SPORTSWIRE

SPONSORS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS - AFFILIATES Dr. David Harrington, Alabama Robert Hutton, Arizona Bill Walmsley, Arkansas James Miller, Charles Town Kim Oliver, Colorado Chris Vaccaro, Finger Lakes Jim Watkins, Illinois Joe Davis, Indiana David McShane, Iowa Rick Hiles, Kentucky Benard Chatters, Louisiana Jason Uelmen, Michigan Pete Mattson, Minnesota Jami Poole, Mountaineer Park Garald “Wally” Wollsen, Nebraska Anthony Spadea, New England Roy Manfredi, New Mexico Joe Poole, Ohio Joe Offolter, Oklahoma Ron Sutton, Oregon Sandee Martin, Pennsylvania Mike Dini, Tampa Bay Downs David Ross, Virginia Pat LePley, Washington

CONTRIBUTORS Dr. Kimberly Brewer Rick Capone Sarah E. Coleman Dr. Clara Fenger Jennie Rees Peter J. Sacopulos Maryjean Wall PHOTOGRAPHERS Breeders’ Cup/Eclipse Sportswire Denis Blake Rick Capone Coady Photography Keeneland Library/Thoroughbred Times Collection Maryjean Wall STAFF Tom Law Editor P (859) 396-9407 hj@hbpa.org Jennifer Vanier Allen Advertising Director P (716) 650-4011 F (509) 272-1640 jallen@hbpa.org Michelle McShane Advertising Representative P (515) 508-1811 info@hbpa.org Limb Design www.limbdesign.com Graphic Design THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL 3380 Paris Pike Lexington, KY 40511 P (859) 259-0451 F (859) 259-0452 hj@hbpa.org HBPA WEBSITE: www.hbpa.org COVER PHOTO: Alex Evers/Eclipse Sportswire

The opinions, representations and viewpoints expressed by the authors in the articles contained in The Horsemen’s Journal do not necessarily reflect the opinions, representations and viewpoints or the official policies or positions of The Horsemen’s Journal, National Horsemen’s Administration Corporation or National Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association Inc. and its affiliates (collectively “HJ”). HJ is not responsible for, and expressly disclaims all liability for, damages of any kind arising out of use, reference to or reliance on any information contained within this issue. Information in this issue may become outdated due to the rapidly changing nature of the horse industry. The publication of any advertisements or articles should not be construed as an endorsement of any product, service or position unless specifically stated.

The Horsemen’s Journal, Volume 69 #1.

Postal Information: The Horsemen’s Journal (ISSN 0018-5256) is published quarterly by the National Horsemen’s Administration Corporation, with publishing offices at P.O. Box 8645, Round Rock, TX 78683. Copyright 2022 all rights reserved.

The Horsemen’s Journal is the official publication for members of the Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, a representative association of Thoroughbred owners and

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

trainers. HBPA is a non-profit 501(c)6 Kentucky corporation. Members receive The Horsemen’s Journal as a benefit of membership paid by the national office from affiliate dues. Annual non-member subscriptions are $25. Single-copy back issues, if available, are $7. Canadian subscribers add $6. All other subscriptions outside the U.S. add $20 payable in U.S. funds. To order reprints or subscriptions, call (859) 259-0451.

The HBPA National Board of Directors has determined that the publication of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of the public business required of the association.

Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and/or advertisers and do not necessarily represent the opinion or policy of the publisher or HBPA board or staff. Query the editor prior to sending any manuscripts.

Periodicals Postage Paid at Round Rock, Texas and additional mailing offices.

CANADA POST: Publications mail agreement no. 41530527. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: P. O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4R6.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Horsemen’s Journal, 3380 Paris Pike, Lexington, KY 40511.

3

OFFICIALSPONSOR SPONSOR OFFICIAL of the the National NationalHBPA HBPA of

NEWS

BREEDERS’ CUP/ECLIPSE SPORTSWIRE

INDUSTRY NEWS

KNICKS GO LOCKS UP HORSE OF THE YEAR AND CHAMPION OLDER DIRT MALE HONORS WITH A FRONT-RUNNING VICTORY IN LAST YEAR’S LONGINES BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC AT DEL MAR.

Knicks Go Earns 2021 Horse of the Year Title

By Tom Law

B

rad Cox walked from stall to stall one morning last summer

Knicks Go certainly was no surprise in 2021. Coming off a year when he

at Saratoga, discussing the members of his New York string

won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt mile, he stepped up his game even more,

bedded down in one of the aging grayish-tan barns inside

starting with a January win in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream

Horse Haven on the Oklahoma Training Track. He spent about

Park and going all the way to an early November win in the Grade 1 Longines

the same amount of time on each, a generous gift considering the demands on

Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar. And, oh yeah, the top prize as North America’s

a trainer with calls to owners, entries to make and schooling to oversee, not to

Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male.

mention checking in with assistants and family back home in Kentucky.

Cox started at the end of the barn, working his way back toward his office

Knicks Go took home those titles during the 51st Eclipse Awards, which returned to an in-person event Feb. 10 at Santa Anita Park. He won five of seven

in the middle of the long shedrow. After talking about 14 other horses—

starts last year, including the Grade 1 Whitney two days after Cox hosted his

including Grade 1 winner Arklow, Belmont Stakes winner Essential Quality and

tour at Saratoga. The only blemishes came in the Group 1 Saudi Cup and Grade

would-be adjudicated Kentucky Derby winner Mandaloun—he reached the

1 Metropolitan Handicap, in which Knicks Go finished fourth both times. Back

stall of Knicks Go. The gray stood at the webbing, poked his head into the late

around two turns for his other races, Knicks Go couldn’t be beat and racked up

Saratoga morning air and didn’t pay much attention to his visitors. Cox stayed

$7,324,140 in earnings.

a little longer at Knicks Go’s stall than most, a justifiable pause for a horse who would take him to the top of the world in 2021.

“No secrets with him, not at all,” Cox said when asked if there was anything the racing world might not know about the Maryland-bred son of Paynter.

6

“I don’t think that’s his thing, the one-turn,” Cox said of Knicks Go’s Met Mile, in which he finished 3 ¼ lengths back. “The race around one turn, in Grade 1 competition, is just not his thing.”

Knicks Go showed what his thing was in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, dusting off the talented sophomore trio of Medina Spirit, Essential Quality and Hot Rod

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

Charlie to cap his season. Memories of the Classic undoubtedly lingered in the minds of the Eclipse Award voters, who cast 228 of the possible 235 votes for

female to win the steeplechase honor and the first since Life’s Illusion in 1975.

Joel Rosario, who rode Knicks Go in all of his races in 2021, won his first

Horse of the Year his way. Knicks Go, campaigned by the Korea Racing Authority

outstanding jockey title. He led all North American riders with total earnings of

and now standing his first season at Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville,

$32,994,478 in purses and 48 graded stakes victories in 2021.

Kentucky, also played a key role in Cox defending his title as outstanding

Jessica Pyfer, a 23-year-old riding on the Southern California circuit,

trainer. He collected 189 of the 232 votes cast in the trainer category. (Editor’s

won the Eclipse Award for outstanding apprentice jockey. She became the

Note: Not all vote totals are the same due to abstentions.)

third woman to win the apprentice title, following Rosemary Homeister Jr. and

Five others earned Horse of the Year votes, with eventual champion older dirt female Letruska and eventual champion turf female Loves Only You finishing in a distant tie for second with two votes apiece.

The Eclipse Awards, honoring excellence in North American Thoroughbred

Emma‑Jayne Wilson.

Others recognized at the Eclipse Awards were Ambassador Earle I. Mack with the Eclipse Award of Merit for lifetime achievement.

Media Eclipse Awards were given in the categories of photography, audio

racing, are voted on by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association

and multimedia internet, news/enterprise writing, feature/commentary writing,

(consisting of member racetrack racing officials and Equibase field personnel),

television–feature and television–live racing programming to recognize

Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers And Broadcasters.

members of the media for outstanding coverage of Thoroughbred racing. The

Essential Quality, who added the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga to his

2021 Media Eclipse Awards winners, determined by a judges’ panel for each

spring classic victory, took home champion 3-year-old male honors in one of

category and previously announced, were Feature/Commentary Writing –

the tightest votes of the year. He earned 131 votes to 84 for Medina Spirit,

Sandra McKee, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred; News/Enterprise Writing – Eric

with Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Life Is Good third with 18 votes. Essential

Mitchell, Bloodhorse.com; Television – Live Racing Programming – NBC Sports;

Quality was bred and is owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum’s

Television – Features – NBC Sports; Audio/Multimedia Internet – Attheraces.

Godolphin LLC, which finished well clear in the outstanding owner and

com; and Photography – Jeff Faughender, Louisville Courier-Journal.

Justin Mustari, winner of the 2021 NTRA National Horseplayers

outstanding breeder categories.

Malathaat, the winner of three Grade 1 stakes including the Kentucky Oaks for the late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum’s Shadwell Stable and

Championship, was presented an Eclipse Award as the 2021 Horseplayer of the Year.

trainer Todd Pletcher, was voted champion 3-year-old filly.

St. George Stable’s Letruska dominated the older female dirt division.

Trained by Fausto Gutierrez, the now 6-year-old mare won six graded stakes at six tracks during her championship season.

A pair of undefeated juveniles captured the 2-year-old male and 2-year-old filly Eclipse Awards. Speedway Stables’ Corniche won the 2-year-old title, going three-for-three with a season-ending victory in the Grade 1 TVG Breeders’ Cup Juvenile presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance for trainer Bob Baffert.

L & N Racing’s and Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Echo Zulu, trained by Steve Asmussen, won her four starts in runaway fashion, including a 5 1/4-length victory in the Grade 1 NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies to secure the 2-year-old filly crown.

Asmussen also trained Kirk and Judy Robison’s male sprint champion Jackie’s Warrior, who won four stakes in 2021, including the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes at Saratoga. Bo Hirsch’s homebred Ce Ce won the female sprinter title for trainer Michael McCarthy. She won four of six starts, including the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint over last year’s champion Gamine.

DMM Dream Club’s Loves Only You, who gave Japan its first win at the Breeders’ Cup in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, was voted champion female turf horse. Godolphin’s Yibir was named champion male turf horse. Trained by Charlie Appleby, the son of Dubawi won the Jockey Club

GET BETTER HEALTH & PERFORMANCE when electrolytes work properly.

Equiwinner™

Making Electrolytes Smart It’s NOT about feeding MORE electrolytes.

It’s about making them work PROPERLY. Guaranteed success with: ● EIPH Bleeding ● Tying-up ● Non-sweating ● Hydration Easy 10-day treatment ● Thumps can last for months ● Performance Proof positive.

Test negative.

and even up to a year.

Derby Invitational at Belmont Park and the Grade 1 Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar. The Mean Queen, owned by Buttonwood Farm and trained by Keri Brion, was voted champion steeplechase horse. The chestnut mare became the second

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

Order today! Signal-Health.com 877-378-4946

And at Big Dee’s, Thyben’s, TT Distributors, JockeyTack, Rafter Eleven, Sunland Tack, Vinton Feed, Pacesetter Tack 7

NEWS

COURTESY OF EMERALD DOWNS

INDUSTRY NEWS

2021 WHITE HORSE AWARD WINNER MARSHALL ALLEN (LEFT) AND HIS FORMER BOSS, RETIRED TRAINER CHRIS STENSLIE, WITH DAFFODIL SWEET, AKA “DAPHNE,” AT EMERALD DOWNS.

A Life in the Game 2021 White Horse Award winner Marshall Allen didn’t grow up with horses, but it took just one memorable trip to the backside of Longacres to know horses would become his life’s work

By Sarah E. Coleman

M

arshall Allen had no exposure to horses growing up in the Bay Area of California—except in the form of the mounted patrol— and none until he moved to Seattle when he was 19. Hoping to get away from the Bay Area “rat race,” Allen craved the peace the Washington landscape offered. After getting a job working in a warehouse and making decent money (this was long before the mortgage rates skyrocketed, he notes), he “stumbled into racing” at almost 20 years old.

Young, with a bit of money and looking for some fun, he joined a partnership on a horse. “I never knew anything much about horses or the racing industry, but I knew I liked it,” he said.

That partnership forever changed the trajectory of Allen’s life. The horse the partnership owned was stabled at Longacres, a now-defunct track in Renton, Washington, and Allen remembers with clarity the moment he set foot on the backside.

“I can still at this moment picture seeing that lifestyle [the track afforded] and the people working and coming and going,” he said. “After not knowing what I was doing with my life, I just knew that this was it.”

With an unshakeable feeling that he was meant to be with the horses, Allen was all in. He set about learning as much as he could about the horses and the lifestyle that enamored him—and he had no qualms about getting dirty to do it.

8

“In Seattle, I started by mucking stalls,” he said. “I learned from the ground up, and one thing led to another; when I had enough experience, I became an assistant trainer.”

Though Allen glossed over this part of his story, the amount of effort he put toward learning the ins and outs of working with horses is not to be dismissed.

Not content to just muck stalls and drop feed, he was hungry to learn the nuances of wrapping legs, what to look for when watching horses move, how to determine the best surface and race length for each horse in the stable, how to decipher what each horse preferred in everything from tack to feed—and everything in between.

It’s evident in the way Allen talks about the horses, both those who taught Marshall Allen won the 2021 White Horse Award, presented annually by the Race Track Chaplaincy of America (RTCA) to “individuals who have done something heroic on behalf of human or horse within the last 12 months.” Allen saved the life of Jim Foulkes, a horse owner who collapsed in the barn area of Emerald Downs. Allen performed CPR and assisted EMTs when they arrived on the scene. Watch the RTCA video here: https://bit.ly/3uePTLK

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

him and those now in his care, that to him they are individuals, with quirks and preferences that, if respected, are sure to create a bond that brings forth the horse’s best efforts.

Since Longacres closed in 1992, Allen has been based primarily at Emerald Downs in Auburn, Washington. He has worked as an assistant to trainer Chris Stenslie, who recently retired, and now works for Doris Harwood, whom he had worked with in the past. As assistant trainer, Allen manages the barn and oversees the horses in training, ensuring peace of mind that the horses at home are cared for while the trainer travels to other tracks.

Allen has handled some nice horses, but one of his favorites is Del Rio Harbor, whom Allen worked with at 2 and during part of his 3-year-old season. The gelding earned $108,293 and $87,548, respectively, in those years.

“He had class; he was a stakes horse that was such a happy boy,” Allen said of the chestnut son of Harbor the Gold. “He and I were close—he seemed to appreciate the attention.”

Del Rio Harbor raced until age 7, and Allen kept track of the gelding even though he didn’t finish his racing career with Allen or the trainers he worked for.

“When he was done … we found him and I sent him over to Tony and Brenna Lofton’s place, where he got to be turned out and be a horse,” Allen said. “Being around certain horses, you get attached [to them] because of the way they connect and want to be with you when they enjoy your company.”

Allen enjoys life at the racetrack, a clear diversion from the “clock in and clock out” warehouse job he had had before.

“In this industry, it’s like working on a farm seven days a week, not really punching a time clock,” he said. “You work until the work’s done, every day. The horses depend on you— they know you’re bringing them what they need. And when they depend on you, they get to know your voice.”

It’s not unusual to hear some nickers when Allen walks into the barn.

“It’s one reason why I do what I do,” he said.

Allen’s ability to treat each horse as an individual trickles down to knowing their favorite treats. He clearly knows the key to a horse’s heart—animal crackers.

“I like to get them animal crackers,” he said. “They’re so plain, but they really like them. I started going through so many, now they (the racehorses) are always sniffing my pockets. We have one filly, every time I would get her in the wash rack, she would sniff my pockets; every time she goes on the walker, I give her an animal cracker.”

Allen also has tried his hand at breeding.

“I bred a number of horses and had the mares,” he said, “but it’s such a long process to get them to the races.”

Allen admits he may have been more attached to the horses he’s raised—especially since as the breeder, he was able to spend more months with the foal than he would have as simply the trainer; he literally watched them grow up. Allen named one homebred, the Trickey Trevor mare Iknowyourface, for his fondness for the Lord of the Rings series. During her racing career for Allen and others, Allen never heard anyone recognize the reference to her name until TVG’s Matt Carothers picked up on the moniker.

“Matt mentioned her name when that mare was 7,” Allen recalled. “He turned to the side and said, ‘Wasn’t that what Théoden said in Lord of the Rings?’ ” Carothers was correct. The phrase “I know your face” is twice uttered by King Théoden to his niece Éowyn in the series.

In those four words, Théoden recognized all the love he felt for Éowyn, whom he loved as a daughter, encompassing their years of connection and shared memories. It’s easy to see why this saying resonated with Allen. His love for the sport and the genuine connection he feels for the horses in his care are evident in everything he does, from the moment he walks into the barn to say good morning to the last night check (and cookies) as he walks out each night.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

ahead of the curve Stay ahead of the curve with these innovative new hoofcare products, available at an FPD Dealer near you.

FootPro™ DIM Impression Material

Non-toxic, nonallergenic, moldable two-part dental grade silicone. Use with a pad to provide either a soft cushion (DIM20), or a firm supportive material (DIM40).

3D Hoof Pads

Revolutionary new pads designed to treat problems in the heel area. Pad styles include Eclipse, Half Mesh, Half Mesh Degree, 3D Full Mesh.

USE 3D HOOF PADS AND FOOTPRO DIM WITH KERCKHAERT RACE PLATES FOR OUTSTANDING RESULTS

LEGENDARY XT

TRADITION XT

KINGS XT

To view product specifications, including photos and videos, and to find FPD dealers in your area, visit farrierproducts.com or call (800) 468-2879.

9

NEWS

INDUSTRY NEWS

National HBPA Responds to Judge Hendrix’s HISA Ruling

U

nited States District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix issued a ruling in the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association’s case involving the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) March 31. While Judge Hendrix’s opinion recognizes HISA as constitutional under current precedent, he included compelling statements that indicate there remains a need to clarify the matters at issue in the lawsuit. In the lawsuit, the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) and a group of its affiliates argued that Congress cannot delegate the ability to regulate the entire horse racing industry in the U.S. to an unelected body of private citizens called the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.

“Aspects of this law will have a devastating effect on our industry and put many hardworking horsemen and horsewomen out of business,” said National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback. “We’ve been saying for several years that this legislation was illegal. We are considering our options to appeal the decision and remain committed to doing due diligence to ensure a legal solution that protects the health and welfare of our equine and human athletes is adopted.”

In his decision, Judge Hendrix acknowledged his court cannot “expand or constrict” the precedents, which makes the ruling ripe for appeal. Judge Hendrix wrote, “The Horsemen are correct that HISA creates a novel structure that

nationalizes regulation of the horseracing industry.… Although the Horsemen make compelling arguments that HISA goes too far, only appellate courts may expand or constrict precedent. This Court cannot.”

The National HBPA and affiliates in Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia and Tampa Bay are represented by the Liberty Justice Center, a national nonprofit law firm dedicated to protecting fundamental constitutional rights.

“We are encouraged that Judge Hendrix recognized the strength of our arguments and plan to push them vigorously on appeal,” said Daniel Suhr, managing attorney at the Liberty Justice Center. “Congress cannot cede its legal authority to regulate an entire industry to a private organization. This case remains important to protect the integrity of not only the horseracing industry but also our Constitution.”

The HISA still faces a separate federal lawsuit challenging its constitutionality. That suit filed in Lexington, Ky., was brought by the United States Trotting Association; the states of Oklahoma, West Virginia and Louisiana with support from six additional states; and other entities that include two racing commissions and the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Association.

In the best interest of horse racing, horsemen and horsewomen, the National HBPA plans to continue to exercise due diligence and see the process through. The National HBPA appreciates the process and believes Judge Hendrix has done deliberative, supportive work and has provided a path to move forward with the challenge.

Welfare and Safety Summit Returns to Keeneland

G

rayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation will host the 10th

latest statistics from the Equine Injury Database. The full program and list of

Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit June 22 at

speakers will be announced.

Keeneland Race Course. The previous summit was conducted

“This year marks 16 years since the first Welfare and Safety of the

in June 2020 as a virtual webinar series due to the

Racehorse Summit, and our 10th edition of this event will showcase the progress

COVID-19 pandemic.

our industry has made during that time as well as areas of safety and welfare that continue to require our attention,” said Jamie Haydon, president of Grayson.

“Keeneland has been a committed partner with us from the beginning, and we are thankful for their hospitality as well as their recognition of the importance of the summit to the Thoroughbred industry.”

“Keeneland is a firm believer in promoting the safety and welfare of our human and equine athletes,” said Shannon Arvin, president and CEO of Keeneland. “The accomplishments of the previous summits are a testament to the value of this gathering, and Keeneland is proud to support it.”

Previous editions of the summit can be viewed on Grayson’s YouTube page

The event will again be free and open to the public in the Keeneland sales

and have received nearly 16,000 views. Products of the past nine summits

pavilion as well as streamed live online. The agenda will include a review of the

include the Equine Injury Database, Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory, a

Thoroughbred industry’s implementation of safety recommendations developed

uniform trainer test and study guide, the racing surfaces white paper and

at the first summit in 2006 as well as a presentation by Dr. Tim Parkin on the

publication of educational bulletins for track maintenance. HJ

10

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

NEWS

HBPA NEWS ‘SPECIAL’ CLAIM: STAUDACHER, PROSCIA RELISH CLAIMING HORSE OF THE YEAR HONOR

COADY PHOTOGRAPHY

By Jennie Rees

DAVID STAUDACHER (RIGHT) AND PETER PROSCIA LEAD 2021 NATIONAL HBPA CLAIMING HORSE OF THE YEAR TO THE WINNER’S CIRCLE AFTER WINNING THE GRADE 2 PHOENIX AT KEENELAND.

S

pecial Reserve started last season being claimed for $40,000 and ended 2021 as the National HBPA Claiming Horse of the Year.

In between, the now 6-year-old gelding won two graded stakes and three stakes overall, finished second by a half-length in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt and concluded the season with a competitive fourth in the $2 million Grade 1 Qatar Racing Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar. “It’s been such a great experience, and he’s such a great horse,” said David Staudacher, who co-owns the Mike Maker-trained Special Reserve with Peter Proscia’s Paradise Farms Corp. “This award means a lot. I’ve been in the business over 40 years, and I had my first stakes win with Mike four or five years ago. I’ve been claiming horses a long time—claimed some good ones, claimed some notso-good ones. Love the sport, love the people involved. It’s just so much fun.”

Proscia, who attended the National HBPA Conference at Oaklawn Park with Staudacher in March to accept the Claiming Horse of the Year honor, agreed.

“He’s been a great horse to watch,” Proscia said. “He tries all the time, and Mike did a great job with him. [The award] was a pleasant surprise. This horse has brought us a lot of fun and success. We’re looking forward to his 2022 campaign.”

The National HBPA Industry Awards Committee, chaired by Pennsylvania HBPA Executive Director Todd Mostoller, annually reviews nominated horses to choose the one most exemplifying the spirit of a National HBPA Claiming Horse of the Year.

“Claiming horses are the hard-knocking heroes of this industry who must prove themselves every day through sweat, muscle and heart,” said National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback. “Each year our awards committee seeks to reward the best representative. As the heart, soul and brawn of American Thoroughbred racing, they are extremely popular competitors. Their stories and those of their owners are often easily identified with and appreciated by all of racing’s fans.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

“This year the committee had several quality horses to decide from, and it was a tough choice,” Hamelback continued. “In the end, Special Reserve and his connections proved the quality of horses that are found within the claiming ranks, the horses that make this industry’s foundation.”

Maker, headquartered in Louisville and with divisions throughout the Midwest and East, has made a career out of claiming horses and turning them into graded stakes winners.

“He’s just phenomenal,” Staudacher said. “His program and his team, they’re able to move horses up. He’s got a real eye for the ones he claims. Winning a couple of stakes races and finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup was like a dream come true.”

Proscia and Staudacher both utilize speed figures and liked what they saw in Special Reserve, with Maker in agreement that they try to claim the horse.

Proscia, of Garden City, New York, said the gelding fit other parameters they use for identifying horses to claim. That Special Reserve was the longest shot (and the only horse in for the claiming price) in the tough second-level allowance/optional claiming race Feb. 6, 2021, at Oaklawn didn’t bother them. Their faith was rewarded when the gelding won by a neck at 22-1 odds.

“I thought he could move forward,” Proscia said. “Did I know he was going to be in the Breeders’ Cup? No, not a chance. But he started to develop. We gave him the time he needed, spaced the races out, and he rewarded us.”

Maker ran Special Reserve back five weeks after the claim for the secondlevel allowance condition at Oaklawn, resulting in another victory. The gelding subsequently was second in Keeneland’s Grade 3 Commonwealth and won Pimlico’s Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Match Series and the $100,000 Iowa Sprint before his narrow defeat in the Vanderbilt.

Special Reserve earned his spot in the Breeders’ Cup by winning Keeneland’s Grade 2 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix, a “Win and You’re In” qualifying race, by a neck over eventual Sprint winner Aloha West. A month later at Del Mar, Special Reserve pressed the favorite Jackie’s Warrior, fighting gamely in the stretch before getting passed late to lose the Sprint by a total of 2 1/4 lengths.

Special Reserve earned a break after his Claiming Horse of the Year campaign, which saw him go 5-2-0 in eight starts and earn $617,100. He’s posted a career record of eight wins from 23 starts with $738,647 in earnings.

Maker said he is particularly happy to see Proscia and Staudacher recognized.

“They love the game, whether it’s claiming, buying, betting,” he said. “Just great guys. It’s a very big deal. They get satisfaction at any level of race and any track. If it was up to Peter, he’d have a horse in every race at every track in America.”

Proscia in turn said Special Reserve’s award is a credit to Maker’s entire staff.

“I want to give them a shout out,” he said. “The people who should really get the kudos are the ones who work in the barn area. They work all kinds of hours.

The people Mike employs are excellent. I’ve been owning horses since 1989. I have to say, they’re exceptional. Between the exercise riders, the grooms and the assistants, they do a great job.”

Maker said Special Reserve’s 6-year-old campaign could resemble last year’s path, with the Phoenix and Breeders’ Cup Sprint, both at Keeneland, in play.

“Hopefully, we can duplicate the success,” he said.

11

NEWS

HBPA NEWS TVG BECOMES CORPORATE SPONSOR OF THE NATIONAL HBPA

T

he National HBPA is pleased to welcome TVG, which is part of FanDuel Group, as its newest corporate sponsor and supporter of North America’s largest horsemen’s association.

FanDuel Group is an innovative sports-tech entertainment company that is changing the way consumers engage with their favorite sports, teams and leagues.

The premier gaming destination in the United States, FanDuel Group consists of a portfolio of leading brands across gaming, sports betting, daily fantasy sports, advance deposit wagering and TV/media, including FanDuel and TVG, America’s horse racing television network, which broadcasts racing from America and the world seven days a week.

“TVG is happy to be a corporate sponsor of the National HBPA and to be advertising in The Horsemen’s Journal,” said Andrew Moore, FanDuel’s vice president of racing. “The National HBPA represents horsemen across North America, and we are proud that the TVG and TVG2 networks broadcast horse racing from across the continent seven days a week with reach to 57 million homes in the USA. This sponsorship adds to our many other horse racing sponsorships, which include the Breeders’ Cup, Del Mar, Keeneland, Monmouth Park, Kentucky Downs, the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, Old Friends Farm, the PDJF and CARMA.” “TVG has always been a huge supporter of our industry, and we are thrilled to have them join our stable of corporate sponsors,” said Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National HBPA. “Horsemen have long relied on TVG and TVG2 to watch and wager on races from around the world, so it’s great to have them on the team as we all work together to promote and grow horse racing.”

FanDuel Group has a presence across all 50 states with 12 million customers. The company is based in New York with offices in California, New Jersey, Florida, Oregon, Georgia and Scotland. FanDuel Group is a subsidiary of Flutter Entertainment plc, the world’s largest sports betting and gaming operator with a portfolio of globally recognized brands and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index of the London Stock Exchange.

HBPA MOURNS LOSS OF RANDY FUNKHOUSER II

By Tom Law

T

he West Virginia Thoroughbred industry and the Charles Town and National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Associations lost one of their staunchest advocates with the passing of Raymond Joseph “Randy” Funkhouser II Feb. 4 at the age of 70.

Funkhouser operated his family’s O’Sullivan Farms, West Virginia’s oldest Thoroughbred farm founded in 1939 by his grandfather R.J. Funkhouser in the northern Shenandoah Valley. He was a member of the Charles Town HBPA for 25 years, including serving as president for 16 years. He also served on the boards of the National HBPA, West Virginia Thoroughbred Breeders Association, West Virginia Breeders’ Classics and the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley and was a founding member and organizer of the Charles Town Racetrack Chaplaincy.

“He was the encyclopedia of West Virginia legislative code, and if I ever had a question about history, the genesis of something, he was always there with the answer,” said Maria Catignani, Charles Town HBPA executive director. “He 12

was just a very lively, gregarious person. He had one of those laughs; it carried you with it. He loved to talk, loved to tell stories. It’s pretty safe to say he was a force and a large part of the reason West Virginia is what it is today. He was there from the outside, along with John McKee.” Born and raised in Charles Town, Funkhouser attended Powhatan School in Boyce, Virginia, and The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in creative writing before returning to Jefferson County to partner with his mother Ruth and mentor Frank Gall in running O’Sullivan Farms. He was actively involved in the West Virginia Thoroughbred industry and farmland preservation, working tirelessly for decades with legislators and community leaders to protect and enhance the Thoroughbred industry.

Peter Ecabert, longtime general counsel of the National HBPA, called Funkhouser a “fighter for horsemen” who was effective without being an “inyour-face type guy” and able to get things done by being friendly and persistent.

“He was the kind of guy who would get things accomplished and do it in a low-key, behind-the-scenes way,” Ecabert said. “I really do think he was a benefit to all horsemen, helping out immensely in making sure they got what they deserved.”

Funkhouser is survived by his beloved wife of 46 years, Clissy; sons John and Joe Funkhouser; daughter Kate Brown; son-in-law Mike Brown; grandson Clyde Brown; sister Ann Strite-Kurz; a vast network of adoring family and friends; and his loyal dog Finnegan.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

MANUFACTURER’S DISCOUNTS FOR THE HORSE WORLD

THIS HORSE MIGHT SAVE YOU A LOT OF MONEY Through our exclusive partnerships, Equine Equipment offers premier discounts for active participants of the horse world, big or small. We work with your local dealers, so your dollars stay local too!

Huge Savings

Huge Savings

Special Pricing

Great Savings

www.Tenda.com

Two Ways to Save

INDUSTRY LEADING BENEFITS

CALL NOW: 1 (877) 905-0004

www.EquineEquipment.com Serving USA and Canada

OFFICIALSPONSOR SPONSOR OFFICIAL of the the National NationalHBPA HBPA of

NEWS

HBPA NEWS LAW NAMED EDITOR OF THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

L

ed by award-winning journalist Tom Law, the team at ST Publishing Inc. took over editorial production of The Horsemen’s Journal effective Jan. 1 and starting with the spring edition of the quarterly publication.

Law, managing editor of ST Publishing and president of the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, succeeds Denis Blake as editor of The Horsemen’s Journal.

Blake was recognized during the recent National HBPA Conference with a proclamation recognizing his “outstanding journalistic record” over a 10-year stint as editor of The Horsemen’s Journal. Blake will continue with the National HBPA in an TOM LAW, EDITOR OF advisory and technical role.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

14

Based in Elkton, Maryland, and co‑owned and co-founded by Joe and Sean Clancy, ST Publishing produces the popular newspaper The Saratoga Special during the Saratoga Race Course meeting and the website thisishorseracing. com. ST Publishing is involved in other editorial-related projects serving the Thoroughbred industry, including work on Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred magazine and providing content for the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc. A native of Saratoga Springs, New York, Law worked as a writer and editor at Thoroughbred Times in Lexington, Kentucky, from 1998 to 2012 before joining ST Publishing as managing editor. He and Greg Charkoudian won the Eclipse Award in the Multimedia/Internet category for Thoroughbred Times’ coverage of the 2011 Breeders’ Cup. Based in Saratoga Springs, Law is also a two-time winner of both the Bill Leggett Breeders’ Cup Magazine Writing Award and Joe Hirsch Memorial Belmont Stakes Writing Award, along with the Red Smith Kentucky Derby Writing Award and David F. Woods Memorial Preakness Writing Award. He is one of only two writers in history honored with the Derby-Preakness-Belmont writing awards in their careers. HJ

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

OFFICIALSPONSOR SPONSOR OFFICIAL of the the National NationalHBPA HBPA of

TRADITION OF SUCCESS Since 1973, Race Track Industry Program graduates have been united by passion – for the horse, for racing, for making their own mark. This passion and drive connects them long after the degree has been earned and careers have been launched.

From winning Triple Crowns to running racetracks, managing bloodstock enterprises to calling races, RTIP alumni are leading the industry.

Become a part of this legacy.

Horsephotos.com

Race Track Industry Program | ua-rtip.org

One. Helping Many.

“TCA’s support of the Thoroughbred Makeover has helped thousands of horses get a solid foundation of retraining after racing.”

“TCA’s grants provide financial assistance to our food pantry that serves all the backstretch workers.”

“TCA’s grants have allowed us to rehome thousands of Thoroughbreds throughout the years.”

Jen Roytz, Retired Racehorse Project

Chaplain Humberto Chavez, New York Racetrack Chaplaincy of America

Bev Strauss, Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue

Thoroughbred Charities of America provides grants to approved organizations working to help Thoroughbreds, backstretch, and farm workers.

Please consider a donation today.

P.O. Box 910668, Lexington, Kentucky 40591 | TCA.org | (859) 276-4989

DENIS BLAKE

FEATURE

Roaring Back

Discussions of serious issues abound as horsemen gather again

By Jennie Rees and Tom Law

Worth the wait.

Few if any in attendance at the 2022 National HBPA Conference at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs, Arkansas, could argue that sentiment.

The conference returned as an in-person gathering for the first time since 2019 after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 event scheduled for Hot Springs. The 2021 convention was conducted virtually.

“It’s really nice to see our horsemen again in person, not virtual, and unmasked to where we can see each other, talk to each other and interact,” said National HBPA President Dr. Doug Daniels. “It just reminded us how much we’ve missed and how important it is to come together and to interact in this way.”

This year also afforded the opportunity for the conference to be held in Oaklawn’s new hotel, which opened toward the end of the track’s 2020 race meeting. Daniels praised the host Arkansas HBPA and the National HBPA staff for their efforts in staging the well-attended conference, which focused on key topics affecting horsemen and the Thoroughbred industry.

“Beautiful venue, very well-hosted,” said Daniels, presiding over his first national conference as the HBPA president. “The program was well put together and timely from a standpoint of content. The panelists were all very interesting.

The discussions were well-moderated. The information gleaned from each panel member was put out in a way that I think everyone in attendance was receptive to and learned something.

18

“Clearly, we couldn’t do this without the attendees. They seemed as enthralled with the presentations as I was. And any attendee that didn’t get enough to eat, they just didn’t try hard enough.”

The conference organizers wasted no time digging into major issues.

While the overriding theme of the opening day sessions focused on individual racing participants doing their part to promote the industry, a panel addressing the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act pulled no punches in critiquing the legislation poised to take effect July 1.

“Thank you, Richard. I hope my remarks are shorter than the introduction.”

Judge Bill Walmsley of the Arkansas HBPA to Richard Riedel, executive director of the Kentucky Racing Health and Welfare Fund, before delivering his “Living Legends of the HBPA” address during the Benefit Providers Committee Working Lunch on Day 2 of the conference

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

DENIS BLAKE

AN UPDATE ON HISA WAS DELIVERED EARLY IN THE CONFERENCE BY (FROM LEFT) NATIONAL HBPA GENERAL COUNSEL PETER ECABERT, ATTORNEY PETE SACOPULOS OF SACOPULOS, JOHNSON AND SACOPULOS, OKLAHOMA STATE REP. CHRIS KANNADY AND ARCI PRESIDENT AND CEO ED MARTIN.

‘Destined for Failure’

“You can’t enforce what doesn’t exist.”

Chris Kannady, a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, on the vagueness of HISA regulations

“You don’t need that nap, you don’t need that matinee, or whatever regular people do. You need to help.”

Trainer Ron Moquett on what role horsemen can play in moving the game forward during the panel “Representing Our Industry”

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

The conference’s panel “HISA: Where Are They Now?” dug right into the problems with the legislation passed and signed into law in late 2020 as part of a massive COVID-19 relief bill.

“I spend my days these days on the phone answering the same question: ‘What will HISA do?’” said Ed Martin, president and CEO of the Association of Racing Commissioners International, a trade association representing racing regulators. “The answer is anybody’s guess and the fact that I’m saying that should be troubling to everybody.”

Martin and the three attorneys on the panel were clear in their views of the problems and issues facing the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the regulatory body created by the legislation.

Peter Ecabert, the longtime general counsel of the National HBPA, moderated the panel, with Martin joined by Pete Sacopulos, an equine attorney from Terre Haute, Indiana, and Chris Kannady, a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and Staff Judge Advocate for the Oklahoma National Guard.

Kannady, a former Marine who served in Afghanistan, called HISA “a snake in the grass” snuck into a 6,000-page bill.

“Each and every state legislature, I don’t care if you’re a Republican or Democrat [the question is going to be]: Who is going to pay for this?” he said. “Usually what happens with the federal government is they show up and say ‘We want you to do this federal program. But we’re going to give you 10 times what you put into the program.’ … Here they’re saying, ‘Here’s our law. You go pay for it.’ There’s no way in hell state legislators are going to hand over a bunch of money … to the federal government to run a federal program.

“It is never going to happen. It is destined for failure.”

Kannady said the funding will fall to the state racing commissions, which he predicted would pass on the costs to the horsemen and the tracks.

HISA faces two federal lawsuits challenging its constitutionality: one filed by the National HBPA and 12 of its state affiliates in Lubbock, Texas, and one filed by Oklahoma, West Virginia and Louisiana and supported by six additional states in Lexington, Kentucky. (A ruling was handed down in Lubbock, Texas, March 31. See page 10) Sacopulos represents the North American Association of Racetrack Vetrinarians in its support of the National HBPA’s lawsuit. He cited four constitutional challenges: • The Constitution’s non-delegation doctrine that says Congress is the branch that makes the laws. “So we cannot have Congress delegating the power to make laws to some private entity, and that’s what has occurred here,” Sacopulos said.

• The appointment clause: “Who appointed the authority?” he said. “In this case, we had a private entity appoint its own people. That runs afoul of the appointment clause in our Constitution, which says if you’re dealing with an agency, the executive branch of government should be making those appointments.”

• The anti-commandeering provision: “Which says the federal government should not come in and take over state-run agencies and authorities,” he said.

• The due-process argument. Sacopulos said that is best demonstrated by how the disciplinary process works now and how it would work under HISA. 19

FEATURE “Most states have an administrative and judicial combination of what happens if you’re accused of a violation,” he said, referencing the process of a stewards hearing and appeals to the commission before a racing participant can turn to court.

Sacopulos said that under HISA, the process starts with a review by the authority, which, if a violation is determined to have occurred, turns it over to an administrative law judge appointed by Federal Trade Commission (FTC). If there is an adverse ruling, he said the FTC has no requirement to hear the case and the next stop would be the U.S. Court of Appeals.

“Let me tell you, for the U.S. Court of Appeals, the average cost is $20,000 to $50,000,” Sacopulos said. “Due process is the right to be heard in a meaningful way within a meaningful time. What you’ve done is create a cost barrier that most people simply can’t pay.

“There’s no guaranteed right to review, and every one of these violations is now a federal violation, no matter how minor it might be.”

Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National HBPA, in his introduction of the panel said that his organization has been unfairly portrayed as being “off base” in finding flaw with HISA. He called HISA “the new four-letter word that is giving all of us a lot of uncertainty.

“Lack of transparency, fear of unknown costs, lack of expertise in writing the rules certainly gives us a lot of cause for uncertainty,” he said. “We want transparency. Is that off base?… We wanted a seat when writing the rules, and I think everyone in this room knows we have none. The HBPA wants equal representation. We’re not trying to run the show, but we certainly got run out of the room … In my opinion, they just don’t want us playing their game.”

Martin said state racing commissions won’t go away under HISA but their role would change. “We don’t make laws. We implement them and we enforce them,” he said. “Our bottom line here is we don’t want to see this turning into a mess—and that might be way beyond our control.”

Hamelback added the National HBPA has never said it inherently opposed federal legislation but that it’s vital to find out if HISA is legal. Otherwise, he said if rules violators are sanctioned under HISA, only to have the law declared illegal, “they walk away scot-free.”

“We owe it to the game … to deliver the best message possible.”

Rick Hammerle, racing coordinator for Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, during the panel “Representing Our Industry” 20

“Nobody in the HBPA has any problem with national uniformity based on science,” he said. “Do we have a problem with something being illegal? Hell yeah we do … We have to do our due diligence now.”

Hamelback expressed frustration at accusations that the National HBPA is only fighting HISA without providing constructive alternatives as the industry grapples to create real reform and achieve uniformity of its medication rules, safety standards and enforcement.

“I have offered solutions until I’m blue in the face,” Hamelback said.

“Solutions don’t necessarily end with federal legislation. Nobody has ever jumped up and down and said we would not have federal legislation. What’s written now, we don’t think it’s legal. I don’t think it’s legal. But if we have the rules in place and they’re put there by science, hey, that is part of the solution. Tell us why you’re banning Lasix. Certainly, you can point toward the international world. But that’s not science.

“I’ve written a white paper on putting all the national uniformity laboratories under the Department of Agriculture … There’s your uniformity. There are a lot of solutions that have been put out on the table.

Those of you who read the vast majority of the media, you’re not going to get that. But … I am working my ass off to find solutions. They may not get out in the press. I don’t have the massive PR that everybody else does. But we’re trying very hard to find the solution. This act is not the solution.”

‘Make a Difference’ Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas’ keynote address and the panel “Representing Our Industry” moderated by award-winning broadcaster Steve Byk with trainer Ron Moquett, owner Danny Caldwell and veteran racing executive Rick Hammerle focused largely on horsemen doing their part to build up the game inside and out.

Lukas, 86, challenged attendees to do their parts to be ambassadors for the sport during his 35-minute address filled with humor, jokes and an impassioned pitch for racing’s participants to be cheerleaders for the game.

“We all have one purpose, and that is to promote the sport … We’ve got to make a difference,” Lukas said. “We’ve got to take every opportunity to introduce racing [to other people]. Do you tell them how great it is? Do you sit down in an airplane and say, ‘Have you ever been to the Derby?’ Everyone of us should be recruiting new people every day, whether they are 6 years old or 96. We’ve got to reach out and tell them about what we’ve got going. We’ve got something really good going.”

Lukas concluded to a standing ovation after saying, “Each one of us has to try to make a difference. Will you make a difference today? Will you recruit someone today?”

He said each night he looks in the mirror and asks, “I [might have] won a race, but did I make a difference today? Make a difference this week, people.”

Moquett, an Oaklawn mainstay and trainer of champion sprinter Whitmore, said he decided a dozen years ago to join the HBPA “to be invested in the sport.”

A member of the Arkansas HBPA board, Moquett tries to do as much as he can with the industry and hopes his colleagues do the same.

“A lot of my comrades, it’s just so easy to sit to the side and bellyache,” Moquett said. “I was asked to be part of the HBPA, and I figured that was the way I could impact the sport. You need to get involved to help the sport that’s your livelihood and make sure people know about our sport.

“Our job, our responsibility is to represent the industry. Show the passion we have for the animal, the respect we have for the game and try to promote that. Overcome the negative. If there is a negative thing, let’s overcome it. Let’s don’t take our industry down with it.”

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

In PA & the Mid-Atlantic THERE’S ONE STALLION THAT STANDS ABOVE ALL THE REST–

UPTOWNCHARLYBROWN

1

Active Sire in Pennsylvania for 2021:

#

• $6,739 AE start/horse lifetime #1 IN THE MID-ATLANTIC AS WELL

• AEI/CI Ratio in moving up mares #1 IN THE MID-ATLANTIC AS WELL

• 13.1 % Black Type Runners lifetime

NO ONE ELSE COMES CLOSE $4M lifetime progeny earnings $69,000 AE/Starter lifetime

53 225

registered 2YOs for 2022 mares bred in last 3 years

AN EDUCATED BREEDER IS THE SMARTEST BREEDER!

Bill Oppenheim, one of the world’s LEADING stallion & breeding experts, rated UPTOWNCHARLYBROWN in the TOP TEN in N.A. in siring “A” IndeX (APEX) horses ($100,000+ earners) at 2.97–higher than: INTO MISCHIEF 2.90, AMERICAN PHAROAH 2.86, CANDY RIDE 2.84, SPEIGHTSTOWN 2.65, MUNNINGS 2.19

$7,500 LFSN Delta, PA Inquiries to Bob Hutt 732-2416606, BobHutt99@aol.com or Joerg Hoffmann 732-766-4507, jhoffmann1961@icloud.com WWW.UTCBSTUD.COM

$3,500 PA MARES $4,500 MD & NJ MARES Registered PA sire; Breeders’ Cup nom.

le!

e eligib

l will b Your foa

2YO W E N e h T $600K+ ed d PA-Br e r i S A P ies r e S n o i Stall

FEATURE

DENIS BLAKE

HALL OF FAME TRAINER D. WAYNE LUKAS ENCOURAGED ATTENDEES DURING HIS KEYNOTE ADDRESS TO NOT ONLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE BUT ALSO HOLD OWNERS ACCOUNTABLE BY THE TRAINER HIRES THEY MAKE.

Hammerle, Oaklawn’s racing coordinator and Kentucky Downs’ director of racing operations, said racetracks and the industry overall need to do more than pay lip service to being transparent, particularly with horseplayers. He advocated for videos and live streams to educate the public about the inner machinations of racing, such as how a post-position draw actually works.

“We say we’re transparent, but do we really let them in?” Hammerle said. “I really think a lot of people who complain, it’s out frustration. They don’t know … It’s incumbent upon us to bring the story to them, so they know what we do.”

Caldwell said he tries to answer every question he gets about horse ownership and racing, but believes it’s important to be candid, including how tough the business is.

“If you win at 20 percent, that’s good in this business,” he said. “You can’t bat .200 in the pros … I hate losing, but guess what? You better get used to it in this sport.”

Caldwell added that it’s incumbent on racing participants to accentuate the positive, including retired racehorses getting second careers off the track.

“Ninety-nine percent of the people care about the horses,” he said. “It’s that 1 percent that brings scrutiny at times. That’s what we have to alleviate. There’s so much more positive than there is negative.”

Year-Round Engagement Engagement and fostering lines of communication with lawmakers on the local, state and federal levels were also topics of discussion. During the conference’s second day in the presentation titled “Interactions With Political Representation,” panelists said that contact was essential for horsemen looking to develop sustainable relationships with legislators.

“Sometimes those no-ask meetings [with legislators] are the most important things you can do,” said Angel Moore, managing member of Moore Firm of Charleston, PLLC, which represents Mountaineer Park HBPA. Moore’s sentiments were echoed by Joe Clabes of Clabes and Associates, which represents the Kentucky HBPA, and Judge Bill Walmsley, president of the Arkansas HBPA and a member of the Arkansas Senate from 1970 to 1982.

“It’s important that you are engaging [lawmakers] year-round,” Clabes said, adding that maintaining those lines of communication could be crucial at times of need.

The panel emphasized the importance of horsemen doing their parts by interacting with legislators, especially their representatives.

Walmsley, who sponsored approximately 60 pieces of legislation during his years in the Arkansas Senate and was appointed to the Arkansas Court of Appeals for a two-year term in 2012, also emphasized the importance of timely political donations.

“You waste your money if you give it to them after they’ve won,” Walmsley said, remembering receiving a $1,000 check after he’d won reelection. He later added that donations of time and effort are almost as important as cash.

“Not only contribute, but also get out and help get [a candidate] elected,” he said when asked how to help a candidate who looks like a certainty at the ballot box.

22

“We write so few checks now, and it’s safer.”

Teri Hoffrogge, horsemen’s bookkeeper at Oaklawn, extolling the use of ACH during the opening panel “Our Horsemen’s Bookkeeper”

“The state racing commissions aren’t going anywhere. They work for the public and we don’t want to see them turned into a mess … and that may be way beyond our control.”

Association of Racing Commissioners International President and CEO Ed Martin discussing the overreach by HISA legislation

“Tell them about the horse … it’s proven that it works.”

Rick Hammerle, racing coordinator for Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, during the panel “Representing Our Industry

“Buckle up, boys and girls.”

Dr. Clara Fenger on HISA’s draft regulations on lameness, during the Kent Stirling Memorial Scientific Panel

“If they led you into a ditch, would you let them help you out?”

Trainer Ron Moquett on racing’s “establishment” coming up with the right solutions going forward, during the panel “Representing Our Industry” THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

“HISA, is that a new four-letter word?”

National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback

“I certainly don’t mind being thought of as a Pollyanna or wearing rosecolored glasses. But it doesn’t feel like we’ve got other options under our control. We can only take care of what we have contact with. It’s trickle-down. … If you’re being a good steward, it rubs off and it helps permeate the environment.”

Award-winning broadcaster Steve Byk on being a positive influence in the game

Changes In Wagering Preferences Hamelback cautioned horsemen at the 2018 conference that sports wagering was coming and the racing industry needed to be prepared. Shortly THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

thereafter, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the ban on sports wagering.

Thirty states have passed such legislation, and Hamelback said the U.S. racing industry must now turn its attention to implementing fixed odds.

That’s a divergence from the pari-mutuel industry that is the linchpin of American racing, while sports betting is based on fixed odds that allow players to lock into a price in advance of an event.

“It’s here, it’s on us,” Hamelback said. “Now we need to really move and pivot and focus on how to deal with it.”

Dave Basler, executive director of the Ohio HBPA, said during the presentation “Fixed Odds Future in Our Industry” that he sees betting on table tennis in Asia and envisions it being replaced with racing in America’s burgeoning sports books.

“We can fill that void a lot of times during the day so that they don’t have to play table tennis from China or cricket from Australia—things that people have no idea about,” Basler said. “That’s not just attractive to sports books, that’s attractive to horsemen and racetracks for the opportunity to increase our revenue.”

The panel also included Louisiana HBPA Executive Director Ed Fenasci.

Sports betting began in Louisiana last fall, with an online component starting in January. Basler’s home state of Ohio is scheduled to start sports wagering Jan. 1, 2023, after passing legislation in December.

“Pari-mutuel wagering is not going to be in the sports books,” Basler said. “Fixed-odds wagering will be. So we need to take advantage of that ability to bring in customers and get our product in front of millions and millions of potential new fans.”

Fenasci said sports books have the ability to be more creative than parimutuel wagering, including with parlay bets.

“Who knows what is going to become the popular wager, right?” he said.

“Two grays will win today at the Fair Grounds. This trainer is going to win a race and this jockey will win two races. You can marry a hockey game with the fifth race at the Fair Grounds and marry that to maybe a college football game betting on LSU. “This is the future of horse-race wagering in the United States. Not this year, five years from now. This model of sports book wagering has competed very well with other forms of gaming. The pari-mutuel model has been eroding over the last 30 years. It’s not standing the test of time when other forms of gaming come in and capture the attention of the customer base.”

Basler said fixed odds could make “an unbettable race now a bettable race.”

“There’s a graded stakes race with six horses and a 3-5 shot in there,” he said. “There’s a good chance the bookmaker will take the 3-5 shot out of the pool entirely and price everybody else as if that horse weren’t in the race. There are a lot of things that we don’t have the ability to do in pari-mutuel pools that fixed odds can offer and perhaps enhance our product.”

Panel moderator Michele Fischer, an industry consultant who spent years working for the tote-betting company Sportech Racing and is now vice president of Sports Information Service’s operation, said some horsemen are surprised to hear that U.S. races already are being distributed in overseas sports books.

While the Stronach Group-owned GWS is the largest exporter of U.S. content, she said SIS is the largest horse racing content distributor in the world. It is fairly new to the American market, however.

SIS distributes on a 24-hour cycle more than 30,000 horse races and 38,000 Greyhound races a year at 118 tracks in 16 countries.

“The sports book wants to have a volume of content,” said panelist Richard Ames, CEO of British-based Sports Information Services and president of its U.S. subsidiary SIS Content Services. “They want to have access to thousands of races.”

Hamelback later said it’s important for horsemen and domestic sports books to understand that, even if they are not pari-mutuel, bets on horse racing 23

FEATURE

“It’s like that old Reagan quote, ‘trust but verify.’”

DENIS BLAKE

BROADCASTER STEVE BYK (FAR LEFT) AND THE AUDIENCE RECEIVED PLENTY OF SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO PUT RACING IN A POSITIVE LIGHT FROM TRAINER RON MOQUETT, LONGTIME RACING EXECUTIVE RICK HAMMERLE AND LEADING OWNER DANNY CALDWELL.

are still covered by the Interstate Horse Racing Act of 1978. That law gives horsemen the right to say where their race signal goes in the U.S. It does not apply to betting on U.S. races in other countries.

“A wager on horse racing is subject to the Interstate Horse Racing Act,” Hamelback said. “It doesn’t say a pari-mutuel wager. Doesn’t say a fixed-odds wager. Doesn’t say anything other than a wager.”

Addressing the Chronic Worker Shortage

Participants on one of the final panels of the conference, “Guest Worker Programs and Employer Development,” encouraged trainers to adjust to the times to have any hope of alleviating the chronic shortage of backstretch workers.

“What does it matter if you want to expand your operation with horses, build a new extension to your farm or barn if you don’t have the workers to muck out the stalls, to care for the horses?” said moderator Remi Bellocq, executive director for equine studies at Bluegrass Community and Technical College. “In many cases, we have valued employees, but how do we keep them? How do we keep them from running down the street to go work at Amazon? Is it about pay? Is it about housing? Is it work-life balance or a combination? It’s a lot easier to keep somebody than to train a new worker … Is this an important enough issue for us to start the charge in our industry to elevate workforce to a national issue, just as we’ve done equine welfare and medication? I submit it is.”

Will Velie, one of racing’s preeminent immigrant attorneys, emphasized the necessity to build a pipeline nationally to find, train and retain American employees. He said it’s vital to show the government the programs and efforts horse racing makes to recruit domestic workers before requesting visas to provide a supplementary workforce.

Oscar Gonzales, a member of the California Horse Racing Board and assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, echoed that the industry can’t bank on immigration reform coming to the rescue. But he offered a glimmer of hope through the Farm Workforce Modernization Act that passed the U.S. House and is pending before the Senate. That bill would allow non-U.S. residents working in agriculture to receive certified agricultural worker status and put them on a path to being lawful, permanent residents.

“I try to remind people in the horse racing industry there is tremendous upside to embracing our agricultural roots,” said Gonzales, who worked as a groom growing up and through college. “We’ve just got to figure out a way to get workers on racetracks … eligible for that.”

The panelists encouraged trainers to learn about and utilize existing resources that could make a difference for employees’ quality of life. Those 24

Gunner LaCour, president of the California-based not-forprofit CHRIMS Inc., on what horsemen should do with data during his presentation “How to Account for Horsemen’s Distributions”

“You should tell your story every chance you can.”

Angel Moore, managing member of the Moore Firm that represents Mountaineer HBPA, on what horsemen should discuss with lawmakers during the panel “Interactions With Political Representation”

“It’s important that you are engaging [lawmakers] year-round.”

Joe Clabes of Clabes and Associates that represents the Kentucky HBPA, during the panel “Interactions With Political Representation”

“Go with your gut feeling is what I tell my bookkeepers … know your horsemen, that helps.”

Kristie Piglia, Louisiana HBPA horsemen’s bookkeeper

“How many banks do you know that answer the phone at 9 at night?”

Teri Hoffrogge on banking and getting necessary information

“Horsemen continue to help horsemen, and that’s what this is all about.”

Former National HBPA President Leroy Gessmann, accepting a formal resolution from the National HBPA Board of Directors THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

“Let’s help the little guy stay in business.”

Judge Walmsley on the challenges facing small-scale trainers against so-called super trainers DENIS BLAKE

LIVING LEGEND BILL WALMSLEY, ARKANSAS HBPA PRESIDENT AND FORMER NATIONAL HBPA PRESIDENT, DISCUSSED STRATEGIES IN DEALING WITH LAWMAKERS WITH JOE CLABES OF CLABES AND ASSOCIATES, WHICH REPRESENTS THE KENTUCKY HBPA, AND ANGEL MOORE OF MOORE FIRM OF CHARLESTON, WHICH REPRESENTS THE MOUNTAINEER PARK HBPA.

include access to education with programs such as Bellocq’s at BCTC, the Groom Elite courses offered at many tracks and English lessons.

Gonzales said there is a lot of grant money available if horsemen and their representatives develop partnerships with entities such as community colleges, chambers of commerce and health clinics.

“It is so incumbent upon us to tell our story, especially to policymakers,” he said. “Never let an opportunity go by to have your voice heard.”

Bellocq, who said the vast majority of his students are female, said it’s a different world than when he came on the racetrack in 1975.

“You have to adapt; you can’t make the workforce change for you,” he said.

“If a young gal graduates from our program, she’ll say, ‘I don’t want to work for Amazon. They’re offering me more money, retirement, insurance. But I love horses.

So meet me halfway. Pay me enough so that’s not a temptation for me to go work over there.’… The trainers, the owners, the farm managers who get that and understand that are the ones who are retaining their workers longer. The ones who refuse to change have a lot of turnover.

“As business people, as horsemen, we’re no different than the guy who has a landscaping or construction business down the road or Amazon. Either we compete and compete successfully for the workforce, or we don’t. It’s not a gray area.”

Panelist Julio Rubio, the Kentucky HBPA’s Hispanic and backside services

“Workers nowadays have options.”

Oscar Gonzales, assistant secretary of the USDA and a member of the California Horse Racing Board, on labor-force challenges during the panel presentation on guest worker programs and employer development

“A day off, that’s the complaint I get the most … and maybe pay.”

Julio Rubio, Kentucky HBPA’s Hispanic and backside services coordinator, on what he hears the most from workers

“I’m from Missouri, where we don’t have horse racing. We passed a bill in 1983 but still don’t have it … so I’m a bit of an outsider here.”

Dr. Kevin Keegan, professor of veterinary medicine and surgery at the University of Missouri, before discussing lameness in the Kent Stirling Memorial Scientific Panel

“The relationship between lameness and injury is not a simple one.”

Dr. Kevin Keegan

DENIS BLAKE

FORMER IOWA HBPA PRESIDENT LEROY GESSMAN (SECOND FROM LEFT) WAS HONORED FOR HIS MANY YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE NATIONAL HBPA AS A DIRECTOR, REGIONAL VP AND PRESIDENT. HE’S JOINED BY PETER ECABERT, NATIONAL HBPA PRESIDENT DR. DOUG DANIELS AND NATIONAL HBPA CEO ERIC HAMELBACK

26

“I’m glad everybody was paying such close attention because we’re going to have a written evaluation after the third race today at Oaklawn. The winner will get a prize.”

Dave Basler, executive director of the Ohio HBPA, after Keegan’s presentation on lameness

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

“I keep my negatives on file for … three or four years, maybe more.

DENIS BLAKE

They come back then, they get them then.”

Teri Hoffrogge on purse redistributions

THE EVER-GROWING WORKER SHORTAGE AND RETENTION ISSUE CAME INTO FOCUS DURING A PANEL WITH (FROM LEFT) GROOM ELITE’S DR. REID MCLELLAN, USDA’S OSCAR GONZALES, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY WILL VELIE AND KENTUCKY HBPA’S HISPANIC AND BACKSIDE SERVICES COORDINATOR JULIO RUBIO.

coordinator who also works across the country as a consultant, said the No. 1 thing backstretch employees say they’d like is a day off a week.

Another thing facing today’s horsemen is the extensive paperwork employees and employers must fill out to be in compliance with labor regulations. Reid McLellan, founder of the Groom Elite program, spelled out best practices in managing a workforce, recommending horsemen do a selfevaluation of their stable.

“The question to ask when you get done is: ‘Would I work for me?’” he said.

“Make a labor plan. Let’s sit down and look at a budget and see how can we afford to do the things we need to do to be competitive in the marketplace. Take advantage of what organizations like the HBPA offer. Because we do have access to bring in accountants, human resources people. We provide a lot of service.

Because if you train your team, they will help you train your horses.”

National Honors

Several honors were handed out during the conference, including Bill Walmsley as an HBPA Living Legend. The president of the Arkansas HBPA and former National HBPA president was interviewed by another HBPA stalwart, Washington HBPA Executive Director MaryAnn O’Connell, about lessons learned during his long tenure.

O’Connell asked how the national horsemen can get more respect and “not just a seat at the table but a voice at the table?”

“There’s a certain element within this industry that we’re never going to get the respect that we’d like to have,” Walmsley said. “The Jockey Club types are simply going to look down on us because they regard trainers as employees and not real participants in this industry. They philosophically have a disagreement. And if you’re any farther west than Keeneland, you’re a cowboy in racing. You’re not going to change those positions.

“What we do is go ahead and make our position. When they’ve done something like HISA, we go after them the place we can go after them: like in court. We’re doing it the proper way, and we go with that. Beyond that, having people who are professional—Eric Hamelback being your face helps a whole lot.

This organization has grown up a whole lot.”

The National HBPA board also presented formal resolutions recognizing Leroy Gessmann and Denis Blake. Gessmann, the former president of the Iowa HBPA, was honored for his many years of service to the National HBPA as a national director, first regional vice president and president. Blake was honored for his outstanding journalistic record as editor of The Horsemen’s Journal for the last 10 years and for his contributions to the mission of the National HBPA. HJ

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

“Now I just need to eat $31 worth of food at this buffet and I’ll be even.”

BloodHorse’s Frank Angst after losing his first bet during the convention’s Day at the Races in the Carousel Room

“You can’t have the labor force you want to have, you have what you have. We live in a new era now.”

Remi Bellocq, executive director of equine studies at Bluegrass Community and Technical College and moderator of the labor force panel discussion

“The first thing I say is, ‘you better get used to losing.’ ” “Representing Our Industry” panelist Danny Caldwell on advice he gives potential owners

“If an ex-coach can own horses, anybody can do it. That’s what I also tell them.”

Danny Caldwell

27

FEATURE

A First Glimpse Into the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act Regulations Veterinary, Medication and Due Process Issues

COADY PHOTOGRAPHY

By Clara Fenger, DVM, PhD, DACVIM; Kimberly Brewer, DVM, MSc; and Pete Sacopulos, Esq

O

n March 4, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) gave rubber-stamp approval to the first round of regulations recommended by the newly established Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) as part of its Racetrack Safety Program.

The FTC commented that it expects that revisions in response to industry comments will ultimately be forthcoming, an expectation unlikely to be fulfilled based on what we know of the authority’s makeup.

The FTC’s wholescale adoption of authority’s first proposal, despite the legitimate concerns communicated, indicate that horse racing is in for a wild ride. Despite the laudable goal of complete transparency, integrity and uniformity, HISA is proving that our most dire predictions of over-regulation, ballooning expenses and restrictions that endanger the health and welfare of our horses will ultimately be surpassed.

28

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

Racetrack Safety Program Implementation Concerns The National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and the North American Association of Racetrack Veterinarians have submitted their concerns with the Racetrack Safety Program, but one concern rises above the rest. Every procedure, every diagnosis and every treatment for every covered horse must be reported to the authority. Aside from the time required for trainers, owners and veterinarians to file this data with the authority, it is a physical impossibility for the authority to parse this information and filter through all the routine procedures that are not currently reported. A procedure or treatment that might be important for safety or integrity may be lost among the huge amount of data submitted. On the other hand, in order to manage the data, the authority is likely to implement automated digital filters, ultimately tagging innocuous treatments and procedures. The micromanagement by committee using digital algorithms to determine treatment or lack of treatment will replace horsemen’s experience and veterinarians’ clinical judgment.

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act defines a “covered horse” as any Thoroughbred horse after its first recorded workout until it is reported to the authority as retired. Every diagnosis and treatment potentially spanning months will need to be reported. If a horse leaves the racetrack premises and ships to a farm, the requirement for all of this reporting shifts from the trainer to the owner. Many absentee owners have heretofore trusted their farm managers to properly manage their horses. The responsibility of this detailed reporting of all the minutiae of horse management and veterinary care will suddenly fall to these owners, effective July 1.

The manner in which horses end up on the vet’s list is similarly concerning in light of the disturbing automatic ban from racing for unsoundness, an undefined term in the document. Unsoundness in veterinary medicine is defined as a deviation from health. This could refer to a deviation from health in the heart, lungs, digestive system, musculoskeletal system or any other system of the animal. We presume they mean unsoundness of limb, but as the term is undefined in the regulations, it could be applied to anything. In the regulation going into effect July 1, horses will be placed on the vet’s list based on diagnoses and procedures by their attending veterinarian, rather than the state veterinarian making the determination on race day.

The first time a horse is determined to be unsound, it will remain on the vet’s list for 14 days. The second time in a 365-day period, it will go on the vet’s list for 30 days. The third time is 180 days. The fourth time, the horse is banned for life.

While these restrictions on racing are reasonable for horses determined to be lame on the day of racing by the state veterinarian, many horses are lame more than four times within a year when paddock turnout and the many months during which horses are nowhere close to a race are included. This regulation places horsemen and women in the dubious position in which they are afraid to call their veterinarian to attend to a sick or injured horse. If all licensees comply with the unsoundness reporting requirement, owners will be forced to retire many horses at no risk of serious injury.

Anti-Doping and Medication Control Protocol (Not Submitted to the FTC) Still in the comment period, the anti-doping and medication control protocol section of the regulations covers the liability standard, list of prohibited substances, testing, investigation, laboratory standards and the rights of horsemen to a defense in the event of a positive test. Notably, the issues of trace environmental, endogenous and dietary substances are absent from consideration in the document. While there are concerns with almost every section of this draft document, we will focus here on the prohibited list of medications and the legal considerations with liability and due process described in the draft.

Section 4: The Prohibited List The prohibited list of the HISA medication control regulations includes “those prohibited substances … the Commission [FTC] has determined in its sole discretion that medical, veterinary or other scientific evidence or experience supports.” As evidenced by the rubber-stamp adoption of the Racetrack Safety Program, the “sole discretion” of the FTC will be determined by the authority, a body strongly influenced by members of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC). We have a number of years of experience with this entity to prepare us for what will follow.

The prohibited list comprises substances with an actual or potential ability to impact performance, an actual or potential ability to mask other substances or an actual or potential detrimental impact on horse welfare. The inclusion of the word “potential” in this regulation permits the authority to add any number of substances to the prohibited list based on little or no scientific evidence. Countless substances have been wildly misclassified by the RMTC and adopted by the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) based on the potential ability to impact performance, mask other substances or impact horse welfare.

Just one example of the many misclassified substances by RMTC/ARCI due to a potential to impact performance is metformin, the most commonly prescribed drug for type 2 diabetes in humans. It’s classified as a 2b violation.

More than 1,000 scientific publications have evaluated metformin’s impact on exercise with the consensus that, at pharmacological doses, the drug negatively impacts performance and could have no effect at the trace levels being found in post-race samples. However, based on a single paper showing improved performance in rats, the RMTC/ARCI has decided metformin has the potential to improve performance, hence the 2b classification. This reasoning is fraught with error and is brought to the racing industry by the same people currently making the medication control rules.

The micromanagement by committee using digital algorithms to determine treatment or lack of treatment will replace horsemen’s experience and veterinarians’ clinical judgment.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

29

COADY PHOTOGRAPHY

FEATURE

Prohibited at All Times, in and out of Competition The current draft of the prohibited list includes a permanent ban on all anabolic steroids, clenbuterol and thyroxine, among other therapeutic medications. Horses that are gelded are deprived of their natural testosterone, a hormone necessary for recovery from severe illness or injury.

Anabolic steroids have traditionally been used in this group of horses well removed from competition to improve nitrogen balance during recovery. While existing regulations put these horses on the vet’s list for a prolonged period of time, the new HISA draft regulation bans them outright.

Clenbuterol, unquestionably abused in some barns, is an FDA-approved therapeutic medication, unparalleled in its therapeutic benefit for horses with chronic lung infections. Appropriate use of clenbuterol could readily be controlled with an out-of-competition and reporting program and with the reporting requirements of the HISA regulation already adopted. Such a program would be simple to implement. Nonetheless, it is banned outright in this draft, with no regard for its health benefits and FDA-approved status.

The ban on thyroxine is another example of the reliance of the authority on potential ability to have a detrimental impact on horse welfare over actual scientific facts. Based on a study in which a 10 times dose of thyroxine caused heart arrhythmias in horses, the RMTC/ARCI decided that thyroxine supplementation at the usual dose should be restricted. HISA goes one step further and bans its use. A normal blood level of thyroxine is required for bone remodeling, and, in humans, low blood thyroxine is also capable of causing heart arrhythmia. Preventing veterinarians from prescribing thyroxine to patients with low blood levels of thyroxine could potentially put those horses at risk of abnormal bone remodeling and even the very thing the authority thinks it

30

is preventing—cardiac arrhythmias. This is a clear example of over-regulation and micromanagement of the equine patient, making veterinary treatment decisions by committee rather than by veterinary examination, diagnostic testing and clinical follow-up.

Prohibited Within 48 Hours of a Race or Workout Apparently in order to avoid having to actually put in the effort to determine what may or may not affect performance or equine welfare, the authority has proposed a ban of all “supplements and feed additives and substances capable at any time of causing an action or effect, or both an action and effect, within … the blood system, the cardiovascular system, the digestive system, the endocrine system, the immune system, the musculoskeletal system, the nervous system, the reproductive system, the respiratory system [and] the urinary system.”

This list essentially includes everything.

The authority has provided some exceptions, including “normal food and water,” in which “normal’ is not defined. Orally administered glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate can be given but apparently not the other ingredients found in joint supplements, such as MSM or ASU. Electrolytes can be given but only sodium, potassium and chloride, so no commercially available electrolytes designed to replace losses from sweat can be fed. Anti-ulcer medications can be administered, and furosemide can be administered for workouts. So, adjunct or alternative bleeder medications cannot be administered for workouts, and all medications to prevent tying up or to clear mucus in the lungs are similarly banned within 48 hours of a workout. These rules do not just apply to the 48 hours before a workout for the state vet or for race day but to every timed workout.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

$4 MILLION REASONS

BREED RACE $

$

WIN

Over $4 Million will be paid to Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders in Oklahoma this year

THOROUGHBRED RACING ASSOCIATION OF OKLAHOMA ONE REMINGTON PLACE 405.427.8753

OKLAHOMA CITY 73111

WWW.TRAORACING.COM

FEATURE

Strict Liability and Due Process The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees due process of law. In July of this year, federal legislation through HISA will become effective.

It will do so without the rights required by the Fifth Amendment. What does this mean, and how might it affect those in the Thoroughbred racing industry? For covered persons, changes to the disciplinary process and defenses afforded those alleged to have violated rules or regulations will be profound.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that due process is afforded under the Constitution to horsemen/licensees. In its 1979 decision in Barry v. Barchi, the nation’s highest court held that a horsemen’s license is “a property interest sufficient to invoke the protection of the Due Process Clause….” In doing so, the Supreme Court reminded those governing racing that there are two types or forms of due process. First, procedural due process requires the right to a reasonable notice of charges and an opportunity to be heard at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner. Second, substantive due process requires that there must be a rational relationship between a legitimate government purpose of a regulation (such as protecting integrity in racing) and the means chosen for that desired end (the rules governing racing).

HISA violates and truncates procedural due process rights by failing to guarantee a right for review and by creating a financial barrier that most participating in the Thoroughbred industry cannot overcome to be heard in a neutral setting. Historically, and up until July of this year, most state disciplinary programs have consisted of an administrative and judicial system of adjudication. Trainers, veterinarians, jockeys or other licensees are guaranteed a hearing before an administrative law judge and/or a state agency or commission and, if dissatisfied, are also guaranteed a right of review by a court of law. The HISA disciplinary process is radically different, in large part because it eviscerates due process for the licensee/covered person.

The disciplinary process under HISA begins with a hearing before the authority. It is unclear, at this time, whether horsemen will be permitted to offer testimony or evidence at that initial stage. If the authority finds that a violation has occurred, a complaint is filed, and the covered person may request a hearing before an administrative law judge. Significantly, the administrative law judge will be an FTC administrative law judge selected by the authority, appointed by the authority and, presumably, paid by the authority.

The administrative law judge will then conduct a merits hearing and issue findings of fact, conclusions of law and a recommended penalty. It is here that horsemen’s due process is both violated and truncated because the overseeing agency, the FTC, is not required to accept a request for review. Without a right to review by the overseeing agency, horsemen’s next step in the HISA disciplinary process is the U.S. Court of Appeals.

The absence of a guaranteed right to review results in a financial mountain very few horsemen will be able to climb. This is because, on average, a trip to the U.S. Court of Appeals comes at a cost of $20,000 to $50,000, and if the cost were not enough, there is the logistical/practical issue to being heard.

For example, a trainer at Hipódromo Camarero in Puerto Rico will have their appeal heard before the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, Massachusetts.

The result is a lack of constitutionally guaranteed due process, and horsemen, in most cases, are forced to financially accept the authority’s offered settlement.

The violation of due process rights is also apparent in the proposed HISA medication control regulations. The same are frightening as well as unconstitutional when a horseman considers the limitations and restrictions on defense of an alleged violation. For example, the proposed rules state that

32

all analytical methods, thresholds, screening tests and reporting levels are presumed to be scientifically valid and “shall not be subject to challenge…”

(Section 3.2(a)(1)). Further, the authority’s proposed rule on prohibited substances and prohibited methods shall be “presumed valid, final and not subject to any challenge by a covered person based on an argument that the substance or method did not have the potential to be a masking agent, did not have the potential to impact performance, or did not have the potential to impact the horse’s welfare” (Section 4.3(a)).

These proposed rules not only violate horsemen’s right to due process but they also severely limit and, in some instances, eliminate the right to mount a defense to an alleged wrongdoing.

For example, these proposed regulations eliminate a defense of environmental contamination. Consider the recent environmental contamination of hay in California with scopolamine, also known as jimsonweed. Absent the environmental contamination defense, a trainer, under the rules and regulations of HISA, would face a federal violation and/or a $20,000 to $50,000 trip to the U.S. Court of Appeals should they wish to clear their name. This is hardly the due process our founding fathers contemplated when drafting the Bill of Rights to the Constitution.

Next, consider HISA’s restrictions and rules on supplements and feed additives. They impose a 48-hour restriction on all substances except “normal” food and water, orally administered glucosamine and vitamins, anti-ulcer medication, limited electrolytes and altrenogest in fillies and mares. Arguably, a trainer who provides a probiotic within the prescribed time window has committed a federal offense. That same trainer has limited and restricted defenses under HISA, an inability to challenge the rule and no guaranteed right of review.

Finally, and perhaps most concerning, is the violation and truncating of due process rights coupled with a private entity empowered by a set of rules that contemplates and embraces the concept of unconditional liability in the event of an alleged violation. The inability to challenge is akin to strict liability. Yet strict liability has its origin in product liability law. The behavior of horsemen is not equivalent to a defective product. The grafting of strict liability or unconditional liability onto a federal regulatory program entrusted to a private entity results in an insurmountable burden on horsemen. Further, while the liability is unconditional relative to horsemen, HISA provides quite a different picture with regard to “the agency, the Authority, and all other equine constituencies and their designees.” Section 17 of HISA titled “Waiver and Release” states: As a condition of participating in or preparing for a Race or working with a Covered Horse, which is participating in or preparing for a Race, Covered Persons agree to release and hold harmless the Agency, the Authority, and all other Equine Constituencies and their designees from any claim, demand, or cause of action, known or unknown, now or hereafter arising, including attorney’s fees, resulting from acts or omissions which occur in good faith.

If there is to be integrity in racing, there must be the constitutionally protected right of due process, the right to review and the right to present a defense. Integrity also requires and demands transparency and accountability of “the agency, the authority and all other equine constituencies and their designees” rather than blanket and unqualified immunity and hold harmless guarantees that constitute absolute and unquestioned authority to regulate, change and potentially destroy the livelihood of those being regulated. The members of the HBPA and its supporting organizations remain hopeful and optimistic that the current constitutional challenges to HISA pending before the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, and the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky, are successful. HJ

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

GET EXCLUSIVE EXCLUSIVE BEYER, GET BEYER, BREEDING & & SALES SALES FEATURES BREEDING FEATURES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 5 DAYS A WEEK. Sign up for DRF Breeding Features GO TO DRF.COM/BREEDINGFEATURES OR USE THE QR CODE BELOW TO REGISTER

OFFICIALSPONSOR SPONSOR OFFICIAL of the the National NationalHBPA HBPA of

FEATURE

MARYJEAN WALL

For the

Love of the Game

Horse racing has a devoted legion of fans who collect historical memorabilia

By Maryjean Wall

KEN GRAYSON HAS ESTABLISHED AN ENTIRE LEVEL OF HIS HOME TO SHOWCASE HIS MASSIVE COLLECTION OF RACING MEMORABILIA, AND HE'S NOT ALONE IN BEING DEVOTED TO PRESERVING SOME OF THE SPORT'S MOST HISTORIC ITEMS.

34

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

W

e’ve all heard some version of this trope: One man’s dirt is another man’s treasure. College professor Greta Polites has a treasure, and it’s racetrack dirt. She’s filled a collection of 10-ounce jars with samplings of track surfaces she’s dug from 110 racecourses (at least 30 are now defunct), and her collection has become quite the cabinet of curiosities. One of her finest moments was an invitation to display several shelves of her carefully labeled jars at a museum show.

Polites, who lives in Streetsboro, Ohio, and teaches information systems and analytics at Kent State University, could be called an extreme racing fan.

She’s part of a subculture of the sport composed of fans who love following racing but who also invest a huge amount of time and money collecting the sport’s memorabilia. You might not recognize these fans in their alternative identities as collectors (not to be confused with hoarders), but they’re out there, just like the truth on The X-Files.

Collectors come from so many perspectives, all of them different. Ken Grayson of Lexington, Kentucky, is perhaps the granddaddy of them all. His house is a shrine to the sport. He built a walk-in vault for storing rare items, like a saddle used on Man o’ War and another that belonged to champion jockey Bill Hartack. Note to thieves: Entry to the vault is by invitation only. Check your weapons at the door.

Alex Sausville of Scotia, New York, is another collector. He graduated from the Race Track Industry Program at the University of Arizona and takes selfies at each new track he visits, even if that track has been permanently shuttered and is only a ghost of its former self.

Still another who has long pursued memorabilia is Gary Gatanis of Toledo, Ohio. He belonged to a nationwide club called the Sport of Kings Society before the club died out in the 1990s after eBay auctions became popular. The club was the first to provide any kind of organization among participants in this collecting hobby. The club produced a publication called Castaways with articles on collecting. If you wanted to buy or sell memorabilia, you purchased a classified ad in Castaways. Gatanis recalls the Sport of Kings Society fondly, saying it provided him with a network so he could build his collection. One of his memorabilia highlights is his expansive run of Kentucky Derby glasses, including some Triple Crown glasses.

Collectors get on the scent like hounds on a hunt when they hear whispers of artifacts up for sale. They’ll drive all night to an auction. Grayson has taken planes to where he’s heard about memorabilia for sale. Most of these people keep watch lists on eBay. All are driven in the sport of racing not so much by the lure of cashing a bet but by acquiring just the right item to make their collections worthier. As a result, they hold racing’s history in their vaults and on their living room shelves.

THE DRIVE TO COLLECT

The engine is the love of the horse and the sport.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

The phenomenon of collecting sports memorabilia has quite naturally drawn the attention of social scientists. Three scholars at Bowling Green State University in Ohio suggested that a fascination with the famous, going back to ancient Greece (think: Olympic athletes), has motivated collectors through the millennia. In their paper titled “Collecting Celebrity: The Meanings and Process of Collecting Sports Memorabilia,” the three scholars began by pointing out the obvious—that collecting sports memorabilia exploded with the arrival of the internet.

In the opinion of some scholars, collecting sports memorabilia really is no different than the rush for European churches to acquire relics in the centuries prior to the Crusades. The Bowling Green researchers wrote, “Post-crucifixion

35

DENIS BLAKE

MARYJEAN WALL

FEATURE

GRAYSON'S COLLECTION INCLUDES THIS SADDLE WORN BY THE LEGENDARY MAN O' WAR, ALONG WITH TROPHIES AND OTHER ITEMS FROM GREATS LIKE SEATTLE SLEW, ROUND TABLE AND MANY MORE.

THIS ORIGINAL BUT FADED WIN PHOTO OF CITATION FROM THE ESTATE OF TRAINER H.A. “JIMMY” JONES RECENTLY WENT THROUGH AN AUCTION HOUSE IN KANSAS, AND LOCH LEA ANTIQUES IN KENTUCKY ACQUIRED SOME SIMILAR ITEMS FROM AN EARLIER AUCTION.

Europeans were so zealous about collecting saints’ bones and body parts that nearly every church, regardless of size, claimed to have relics of Christ and/or the Apostles in order to boost their standing in church and community annals.”

The leap from saints’ relics to relics of sainted horses would be a long one for the deeply religious, but not so long for others. If we greatly admired Secretariat or Man o’ War, wouldn’t we treasure a relic of either horse? When Man o’ War’s bones were transferred from his original burial site to the Kentucky Horse Park in 1977, a few insiders got caught helping themselves to bones and tail hair belonging to the long-interred Great One. They were shamed in the local newspapers, as would be expected, because in Kentucky the very idea of disrespecting Man o’ War’s corpse would make you unpopular.

Man o’ War aside, the really big bucks in sports collecting are not found in horse racing. They’re in baseball. A Babe Ruth trading card valued at more than $6 million sold for an undisclosed but record price in 2021. Closer to reality was the $93,500 paid in 1992 for a baseball hit by Mookie Wilson after that rolled between the legs of first baseman Bill Buckner in a 1986 World Series game.

You can argue till the cows come home about what is the most popular sport in collecting, but it does appear that horse racing inhabits a smaller sphere than professional team sports. Most jockey bobbleheads were selling on eBay this year for less than $25. The online auction site responded to a search for jockey bobbleheads with a question: “Do you mean hockey bobbleheads?”

Whatever drives collectors of racing memorabilia, it’s probably not money.

The engine is the love of the horse and the sport. Polites, for example, is a true fan, enthusiastic about all aspects of Thoroughbred racing. She’s bought into horse micro-ownerships through racing clubs. She’ll drive from Streetsboro to Churchill Downs or Keeneland to watch one of her club horses race.

“I don’t know of any collectors we have who don’t deeply love horses,” said Margaret Layton, owner with her mother, Lyn Layton, of Loch Lea Antiques in Paris, Kentucky. “It’s just an extension of how much they love horses.”

The Layton family had long been involved in the antique business when, in 2002, an auction of the H.A. “Jimmy” Jones estate in Kansas City, Missouri, stepped up the shop’s collecting of racing memorabilia. Jones, like his father,

Ben Jones, trained for Calumet Farm, and both were installed in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. The Laytons drove to Kansas City on an exploratory trip that ended with them joining the world of racing collectors.

Among the memorabilia they brought back to Paris were shoes worn by Calumet Farm racehorses. Jones had trained two of Calumet’s eight Kentucky Derby winners—Iron Liege and Tim Tam—and also saddled Citation in the final two legs of the 1948 Triple Crown. Ben Jones was trainer of record for Citation’s Derby.

“Some of the shoes have the original dirt on them,” said Lyn Layton.

And that wasn’t all they bought.

They found seven collages of 1941 Triple Crown winner Whirlaway’s stakes wins. They sold the collages to a collector, and then that person died. “His widow asked if we wanted to buy them back, and we did,” said Margaret Layton.

“And we sold them to another collector.”

Margaret Layton described the collages as high-end collectibles, items in a different realm than Kentucky Derby glasses, jockey bobbleheads or jockeysigned win pictures. “When you get into the high end, where items are almost one of a kind, you’re talking more money,” she said. None of the items the Laytons purchased at the Jones auction remain in the shop. Most have been sold.

36

BRINGING HOME HISTORY Collectors should feel proud that scholars compliment them with high praise, with the three Bowling Green researchers noting, “Intelligent and cultured people are frequently attracted to relics of the great.” To back this up, consider that Polites holds a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in management information systems. Grayson, now retired, built a highly successful insurance business in Lexington and is on the board of trustees of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Sausville graduated from a prestigious university program. Margaret Layton was the longtime director of communications at Three Chimneys Farm before she retired.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

MARYJEAN WALL

COURTESY GRETA POLITES

GRETA POLITES, PICTURED AT ELLIS PARK, HAS AMASSED A UNIQUE COLLECTION OF DIRT FROM MORE THAN 110 TRACKS AND COUNTING.

AMONG THE UNIQUE ITEMS IN GRAYSON'S COLLECTION ARE THESE SHOES FROM SOME OF THE TOP RACEHORSES OF THE 19TH CENTURY.

And these are just a few collectors. Their numbers range from those who keep a box or two of postcards or racetrack programs to those like Polites and Grayson who have turned their homes into racing museums for their personal enjoyment. Grayson’s collection is so rare and expansive that museums periodically contact him asking for loans of his items.

Grayson became interested in racing when he was in the military and stationed at Fort Polk North in Louisiana alongside a jockey from Beaver Dam, Kentucky. The jockey, Willie Kitchener, began taking Grayson to Evangeline Downs on weekends to watch horses work.

“That was my introduction to horse racing,” Grayson said. “Even though I was born in Louisville, I’d never been to a horse race. I got out in April 1966 and went to my first Derby the next month and went to 52 Derbies after that.”

Grayson is outgoing and personable, the sort who makes friends easily, which is probably why he was so successful in building his insurance business.

He made lifelong friends with jockeys, horse trainers, track executives, anyone he came in contact with on his frequent visits to racetracks. In 1969, he met Hall of Famer John Longden, retired as a jockey and then trainer of Majestic Prince, who was destined to win that year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

Longden and Grayson became fast friends. After Longden retired from training horses and wanted to downsize his personal items, he contacted Grayson. Grayson immediately got on a plane and flew to California to see what his friend had to offer. Those items now are in Grayson’s house.

The Longden friendship led to a friendship with Hall of Fame jockey Bill Hartack, an irascible yet talented rider who won the Kentucky Derby five times.

Among Grayson’s prized items is Bill Hartack’s racing saddle.

“Bill and I became good friends over the years,” Grayson said. “The press always had a running feud with him, but every time he came to Lexington he’d call and say, ‘Ken, can I come by?’ I’d say, ‘You don’t need an invitation; you come by any time you want to.’”

Most collectors never gain access to racing’s inner circles the way Grayson did. The majority of collectors experience a closeness to the sport tangentially, by acquiring items that held significance at one time, perhaps

for a racing celebrity. While collectors might not stand in winner’s circles or racetrack paddocks, they are still as much a foundation of this sport as jockeys, trainers and owners, and they work hard to build their collections.

The night Polites left home in Ohio for Rockingham Park in Salem, New Hampshire, in 2016 was illustrative of the lengths collectors will go to in order to add to their memorabilia. Polites knew no one at The Rock, but she’d read that Rockingham was selling off everything upon closing after 110 years. She wanted to bring home as much as she could from this historic racing operation, so she rented an SUV. She knew her own car would be too small for the job.

Polites rented a motel room in Salem for two days and set up personal headquarters in the track grandstand, where the auction would take place, cordoning off her territory with chairs. She was creating a space where she could contain her cache while bidding on more items.

Two days later, she headed home in her rented SUV crammed with a respectable Rockingham Park collection, including old-time jockey scales, a box of lead weights, historical photos of racehorses and some old signs including her favorite, “Jockettes.” You don’t hear the word “jockettes” anymore. This sign was saved from some storage room and who knows what fate.

Two years earlier Polites had made a similar trip to Beulah Park in Grove City, Ohio, for an auction after that track closed. She remembers the furlong poles being up for bidding, and if you bought one, you had to dig it out of the ground yourself. Not so at Rockingham, where organizers had thoughtfully dug up the poles for display in the grandstand prior to bidding. What would you do with furlong poles after you brought them home? They do make good supports for twinkling lights strung across the backyard. They’re also good for bragging rights.

You never know what these dedicated collectors are going to bring home.

Polites was always fond of Seattle Slew, the 1977 Triple Crown winner. A highlight of her collecting career was scoring a chunk of Slew’s hair while he was alive.

Polites probably would not trade Slew’s hair no matter what you offered because you couldn’t get any more of it. Slew died in 2002, so you’d have to dig him up.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

37

FEATURE

COURTESY ALEX SAUSVILLE COURTESY ALEX SAUSVILLE

ALEX SAUSVILLE, A GRADUATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA'S RACE TRACK INDUSTRY PROGRAM, LIKES TO VISIT AND DOCUMENT SHUTTERED RACETRACKS, INCLUDING THESE PHOTOS FROM THE WOODLANDS IN KANSAS CITY, KANSAS.

IN PURSUIT OF GHOST TRACKS Some collectors form friendships and meet up at auctions and racetracks.

Sausville, the Arizona graduate, had been communicating with Polites on Facebook when he finally made her acquaintance at the 2020 Keeneland Breeders’ Cup. He finds it helpful to consult Polites, who has been at this collecting game a lot longer than he has. Like Polites, Sausville likes to visit “ghost tracks,” which are racing’s version of western ghost towns—alive only in memory or research tomes.

One example of a ghost track is Kenilworth in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. In 1920, Kenilworth was the site of Man o’ War’s final start, when he defeated Sir Barton in what has been called the Race of the Century. The track had opened in 1916, closed midway through the Great Depression in 1935 and is now a track that exists only in the imagination and on old photos and postcards. Even as late as the mid-1960s, the dirt racing surface was still there, and a rent-ahorse operation used a portion of the racecourse for trail rides, but no more. A residential development has replaced Kenilworth. It’s the kind of place Polites likes to visit to dig up a scoopful of dirt.

Polites is more organized than most collectors, who generally keep only lists of tracks they have visited. Polites keeps a spreadsheet. Her data entries list her memorabilia, identifying the track to which each item was connected. She also records the names of racecourses she has visited and whether they remain open or have turned into ghosts. Polites has visited the sites of numerous colonial

38

tracks in Virginia (that’s 18th century-era tracks and not Colonial Downs). With all this going on, you can understand why a spreadsheet is a must for keeping her collecting life in good order.

Sausville has found Polites to be an encyclopedia of information regarding these long-disappeared racecourses.

“I’ve asked her a few times if I’m going to visit a place if she knows what’s left,” he said. “I do research before I go, but sometimes she knows the best way to see things. She’s been to so many tracks.”

Sometimes when ghost track collectors are walking around searching for old sites, they find themselves in unsavory neighborhoods. Polites tells about crossing a street in Chicago while searching out the site of an old track. She was carrying her camera.

“Suddenly I’m surrounded by guys,” she said. She also tells of an experience in Cleveland looking for an old track. “I’m driving down an alley in a bad part of town, and I’m driving over mattresses.” It’s possible people slept there.

Sausville once had a bit of a scare visiting the abandoned site of Bandera Downs in Texas.

“The gate was open, the grandstand was still there, although the track was overgrown and the tote board was boarded up,” he said. “I was looking around when from inside the grandstand two dogs came running out at me. Then a 9-year-old kid came out of the grandstand and started yelling at me.”

Turned out the boy’s family looked after the old track. The family lived in the jockey quarters. Sausville told the boy why he was at the track. How do you explain collecting ghost tracks to a 9-year-old? The boy phoned his father, and all ended well. One curiosity was the two bucking bulls the family was keeping in the infield. Sausville took photos and left.

HOW COLLECTING HAS EVOLVED Gatanis’ collecting method did not require him to drive through abandoned alleys or tromp around ghost tracks. He built his collection by attending live auctions as well as networking through the Sport of Kings Society. He also visited a number of “live” tracks back when live racing was the norm. While he has plenty of Thoroughbred items, Gatanis sports one of the most extensive collections related to the great early 1900s Standardbred runner Dan Patch.

Gatanis developed his interest in racing memorabilia because he already was a collector. He’d been collecting stamps and baseball trading cards since he was about 8. He was born in South Jersey, so his exposure to racing was initiated on trips accompanying his grandfather to the track at Atlantic City.

Enrolling in college in Toledo exposed him to Raceway Park. During military service while stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, he learned he could take a night bus to Louisville on his days off, check into a hotel in the early morning and go to Churchill Downs in the afternoon.

Gatanis was an experienced collector years before the birth of the internet, so his methods now seem old-fashioned and nothing like those that young, modern-day collectors have at hand with eBay. When Gatanis left the Army in 1970, he became a charter member in the Sport of Kings Society after seeing an ad about the club. The fee for joining was $5, and to hear Gatanis, the money was well spent. Soon, he was on the hunt for Kentucky Derby glasses. The racing club enabled him to make contacts with others who were willing to trade these glasses. They all relied on the U.S. Postal Service to make their deals and to ship their newfound treasures.

Then came the internet. It was slow in the early days, but it changed the way deals were made. Items that once were rare began showing up online in

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

COURTESY GARY GATANIS

COURTESY GARY GATANIS

GARY GATANIS HAS BEEN COLLECTING RACING MEMORABILIA FOR MORE THAN FIVE DECADES AND HAS SEEN MAJOR CHANGES IN THE HOBBY.

GATANIS SPECIALIZES IN ITEMS RELATED TO DAN PATCH, ONE OF THE GREATEST STANDARDBRED RUNNERS OF ALL TIME.

increasing numbers that led to a reduction in their value, but in its favor, the internet made collecting much easier for most. Collectors no longer had to work so hard to find what they wanted.

“The internet would end the Sport of Kings Society,” Gatanis said. “It wiped out all the shows that we could go to. The few remaining members would adjust by selling or buying on eBay.” The giant auction website changed the collecting landscape. Collectors could sit at their computers; they no longer had to cultivate networks and travel to auctions and shows. They could type in the search words “Thoroughbred racing” and see a couple thousand items appear on their computer screens.

In the vast land of eBay, collectors might find a Seabiscuit photo, a program from (now defunct) Green Mountain Racetrack in Vermont or a collectible calendar featuring jockeys that is pure beefcake. Many of these items came from someone’s personal collection or from dealers who have amassed boxes of racing’s history and are ready to sell.

“None of us realized what we were doing by saving those discarded programs and totes [pasteboard pari-mutuel tickets] and what this would ultimately mean in the future,” said Gatanis, musing on how these historical collections began. They began with what collectors picked up from the floors of racetracks at the end of the day.

All this ephemera, like pari-mutuel tickets and track programs, has changed in appearance over the years, just as the racing itself has changed.

Betting tickets, formerly printed on pasteboard, have morphed in the digital era into flimsy slips of paper. The old-style, slim track programs that flipped vertically have changed into magazine-style programs that include stories to read between races.

The old ways are never coming back, but the pieces of memorabilia exist to stir fond memories of the way things used to be.

“It was racing’s glory days that I look back on now,” Gatanis said. “We had a great time, and I had that knowledge of racing that allowed me to put a wonderful collection of old programs and collectibles together. Me and other Sport of Kings Society members saved a bit of history. I now have my tracks in the living room on TVG.” As for all that track dirt Polites has turned into treasure, try imagining where else you might find dirt possibly touched by the hooves of long-ago racehorses, from Diomed to Medley to Sir Archy and Grey Eagle. These are names now found only in pedigrees. These horses were the foundation and the history of American horse racing, a history that collectors like Polites have brought back to life on their shelves and in their scrapbooks. They are saving the stories of the sport through the mementos they collect. HJ

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

Maryjean Wall was the turf writer for 35 years at the Lexington HeraldLeader. She won three Eclipse Awards for her writing and, upon retirement, authored two books related to horse racing: How Kentucky Became Southern: A Tale of Outlaws, Horse Thieves, Gamblers and Breeders and Madam Belle: Sex, Money, and Influence in a Southern Brothel.

39

I

n the early years, the sport of horse racing seemed simple. There was no simulcasting, discussion of appropriate marketing strategies, super testing or betting via direct computer links. There was no NTRA, THA, TOC, TOBA, UTTA, AQHA or other organizations representing horsemen’s interests.

Horsemen have a habit of taking care of their own. If someone was sick or down on his luck, they “passed the hat,” taking up collections, which is a time-honored tradition among racetrackers.

It was in 1940 in New England that a group of committed horsemen brought into existence what is now known as the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. From this meager beginning the National HBPA has developed into an organization representing the horsemen’s interests on a myriad of issues.

Today, there are nearly 30,000 owner and trainer members throughout the United States and Canada focused on a common goal—the betterment of racing on all levels.

With this purpose in mind, we welcome and encourage all horsemen to join the National HBPA, and we urge our members to take an active role in the direction and policies of our organization. It is our members who make a difference.

We horsemen are the National HBPA.

We are Leading into the Future and we are…… Horsemen Helping Horsemen

The National HBPA Inc. Eric Hamelback, CEO Phone: 859-259-0451 • Toll Free: 866-245-1711 • Email: ehamelback@hbpa.org 3380 Paris Pike Lexington, KY 40511 Website: www.hbpa.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/NationalHBPA • Twitter: @nationalhbpa

KEENELAND LIBRARY/THOROUGHBRED TIMES COLLECTION

FEATURE

The Other Meadow Stable Star

A Look Back at the Career of 1972 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Riva Ridge

By Rick Capone

RIVA RIDGE WAITS AT THE GATE AT CLAIBORNE FARM IN PARIS, KENTUCKY, WHERE HE STOOD AT STUD UNTIL HIS DEATH AT AGE 16 IN 1985.

42

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Meadow Stable’s first star, Riva Ridge, winning the Kentucky Derby and chasing the Triple Crown.

In his career, Riva Ridge raced 30 times with 17 wins, three seconds, one third and $1,111,497 in earnings to become the sport’s 12th equine millionaire.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

A

t the start of 1972, hopes were running high for everyone at Meadow Stable. The farm’s top Thoroughbred, Riva Ridge, was coming off a sensational 2-year-old season and was one of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby—and the Triple Crown.

Known for his cute floppy ears and sweet disposition, Riva Ridge started his career in June 1971 in a maiden special weight at Belmont Park for owner Penny Tweedy, who was running Meadow Stable for her ailing father, Christopher T. Chenery, and trainer Lucien Laurin. He finished seventh after being bumped, with jockey Chuck Baltazar riding, but rebounded a couple of weeks later to break his maiden at Belmont by 5 1/2 lengths. He followed that with an allowance win at Aqueduct. However, he finished eighth in his next race, the Great American Stakes at Aqueduct, prompting Laurin to make a jockey change to Ron Turcotte.

With Turcotte aboard, Riva Ridge easily won his next start in the Flash Stakes at Saratoga.

In his article, “The Riva Ridge Story,” which appears on Secretariat.com, Turcotte wrote that he believed Riva Ridge was something very special.

“The first time I rode him was in the Flash Stakes on opening day of the Saratoga meeting of 1971, and I was so impressed by his ability that when I got off him in the winner’s circle, I told Mr. Laurin that he was the best 2-year-old I had ever sat on,” Turcotte wrote. “That was saying a lot since I had ridden such stars as Northern Dancer, Tom Rolfe, Arts and Letters, Damascus and the ‘rabbit’ Hedevar. Also Rambling Road, who had defeated Northern Dancer in their only meeting before injuring himself.

“Mr. Laurin’s reply was that I couldn’t be serious or that I had lost my mind because three of those 2-year-olds had gone on to win one or two of the Triple Crown races as 3-year-olds,” he continued. “But I was dead serious. Indeed, up till then, Riva Ridge had run four times with two wins and finished way back in his other two races.”

Still, Turcotte believed Riva Ridge could do great things. He also believed he knew why the colt ran poorly sometimes. He thought Riva Ridge was afraid of running close to other horses. So Turcotte asked Laurin to let him work Riva Ridge every morning for a month to teach him how to conquer that fear.

He received permission, and by the end of the month, he felt he had worked out the issue. Sure enough, Riva Ridge easily won his next race, the 6 1/2-furlong Futurity Stakes at Belmont.

“He came through with flying colors,” Turcotte wrote. “I eased him back off a fairly fast pace leaving the gate and going up the backstretch, and he came home from the middle of the pack to win the race by 1 1/2 lengths going away.”

Turcotte’s work paid off, and the rest of Riva Ridge’s 2-year-old season was a series of victories in the Champagne Stakes at Belmont, Pimlico-Laurel Futurity at Laurel Park and the Garden State Stakes at Garden State Park. All told, he won five stakes in a row and finished the year with seven wins in nine starts, $503,263 in earnings and the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male.

THE ALMOST TRIPLE CROWN As Riva Ridge’s 3-year-old season dawned, the goal was to keep him healthy and prepare him for the Kentucky Derby. To do that, Laurin announced he would only run his horse in three prep races before the Derby, which was considered unconventional at the time and had some folks worried.

In the end, Laurin’s plan worked out. Riva Ridge opened the year with two races at Hialeah, winning the Hibiscus Stakes, then finishing fourth in the Everglades Stakes after being checked late. In his final prep race, he won the

43

KEENELAND LIBRARY/THOROUGHBRED TIMES COLLECTION

FEATURE

RIVA RIDGE, UNDER RON TURCOTTE, ROMPS TO A 3 1/4-LENGTH VICTORY IN THE 98TH RUNNING OF THE KENTUCKY DERBY AT CHURCHILL DOWNS MAY 6, 1972.

Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland impressively and proved he was more than ready for what awaited.

May 6, 1972, at Churchill Downs turned out to be a beautiful spring day, and everyone on the Meadow Stable team patiently waited for post time for the 98th “Run for the Roses.”

However, Turcotte made a change right before the race, with Laurin’s permission, by cutting the holes in Riva Ridge’s blinkers larger just in case he had to take an early lead.

“I had heard rumors around the track and in the jockeys room that trainer Arnold Winick had bragged about playing our game and instructed jockey Carlos Marquez to take Hold Your Peace back leaving the gate and stay with me and move with me,” Turcotte wrote. “But I knew something they didn’t know: Riva was an extremely fast horse before I schooled him to relax and come from behind. I also knew he was the best horse in the race and that I could use him as I saw fit. I was very confident because everything was falling into place at the right time. He was feeling so good and had worked so well over the track, which was dry and fast, with no rain expected for that afternoon.”

The race itself went easier than they could have hoped. Using Riva Ridge’s speed, Turcotte took him to the lead and never looked back, going gate to wire to win by 3 1/4 lengths over No Le Hace. Riva Ridge ran the 1 1/4-mile race in 2:01 4/5.

Winning the Kentucky Derby had been a lifelong dream for Chenery, and while he was hospitalized and could not attend the race, his nurse let him know that his horse had won. It was a happy time in his hospital room that day.

“When Riva Ridge won the Derby, I was so thrilled,” Tweedy said in an article written by Bob Ehalt, “Meadow Stable’s True Hero: Riva Ridge,” which appears on AmericasBestRacing.com. “My dad was alive [he died in January 1973] and I had fulfilled his dreams and biggest desire in racing by winning the Derby. I’ll always thank Riva Ridge for doing that.”

In the book, Riva Ridge: Penny’s First Champion, by Kate Chenery Tweedy and Leeanne Ladin, Kate Tweedy wrote about how she knew her grandfather learned of Riva Ridge’s Kentucky Derby win.

44

“The only sorrow on that Derby was that my once-indomitable grandfather, the towering, commanding presence of my childhood, lay mute and immobile in his hospital bed in New Rochelle, felled like a giant timber by the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease. His nurse whom we had alerted to watch the Derby on TV, exclaimed, ‘Mr. Chenery! Mr. Chenery! Your horse just won the Kentucky Derby!’

He did not speak, but instead lifted a veiny hand that fluttered weakly as tears rolled down his weathered cheeks.

“This would be Mom’s greatest reward—to know that her father understood. ‘I had done it,’ she would say later. Her Riva had redeemed the previous three Derby losses and fulfilled her father’s dream.”

Two weeks later at Pimlico for the Preakness Stakes, however, storm clouds rolled into Baltimore and dumped rain on the track, leaving it a muddy mess. It was widely known that Riva Ridge did not like to run on a muddy track. In fact, during his career, he ran on muddy tracks five times and won only once, in the 1971 Futurity.

At post time, seven horses lined up for the Preakness, and for most of the 1 3/16 miles, Riva Ridge stalked the leader in second. But, in the end, the mud was his downfall, and he finished fourth, six lengths back. Winning the race was Bee Bee Bee, with No Le Hace second and Key to the Mint third.

“That rain made me sick,” Turcotte said in Ehalt’s article. “I was hoping they would scratch him (Riva Ridge) and run (stablemate) Upper Case (who had won the Wood Memorial in the mud), but they said they would regret it for the rest of their lives if Riva ran second to Upper Case. They scratched Upper Case, but I knew Riva Ridge wouldn’t be able to handle that mud.”

In their book about Riva Ridge, Tweedy and Ladin noted something else Turcotte talked about in later years about Riva Ridge and his dislike of running on a muddy track.

“It was not that he just didn’t like the mud, but his body wasn’t suited to it,” Turcotte said. “Riva was top heavy, much wider over the shoulder and narrow chested. He was not as well balanced (as a mudder), not as sure in grass or mud. That’s why he wouldn’t stretch; he was protecting himself from slipping and sliding. But on a fast track, he was so smooth.”

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

KEENELAND LIBRARY/THOROUGHBRED TIMES COLLECTION

KEENELAND LIBRARY/THOROUGHBRED TIMES COLLECTION

RIVA RIDGE AND JOCKEY RON TURCOTTE WIN THE BELMONT STAKES BY SEVEN LENGTHS JUNE 10, 1972.

THE MEADOW STABLE TEAM IN THE WINNER’S CIRCLE WITH RIVA RIDGE AFTER THE 1973 MASSACHUSETTS HANDICAP AT SUFFOLK DOWNS. PICTURED IS JOCKEY RON TURCOTTE ABOARD RIVA RIDGE, WITH (FROM LEFT) OWNER PENNY TWEEDY, TRAINER LUCIEN LAURIN AND GROOM EDDIE SWEAT.

The Meadow Stable team was disappointed, but they didn’t have time to feel sorry for themselves because three weeks later came the Belmont Stakes and a chance for redemption.

Well, redeem he did. Running on a fast track, Riva Ridge took the early

lead over the 10-horse field, led the entire race and won by seven lengths over Ruritania. Riva Ridge ran the 1 1/2 mile “Test of the Champion” in 2:28.

In their book, Tweedy and Ladin describe Laurin’s final instructions to Turcotte.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

45

KEENELAND LIBRARY/THOROUGHBRED TIMES COLLECTION

FEATURE

THE INAUGURAL MARLBORO CUP FEATURED A STRONG FIELD, BUT IN THE END IT CAME DOWN TO THE TWO HORSES FROM MEADOW STABLE, WITH SECRETARIAT BESTING RIVA RIDGE.

...when I talk about the two horses, I say Secretariat belonged to the people and Riva Ridge belonged to me.

Secretariat had millions of people who cared about him. He didn’t need me. But Riva Ridge only had me. He was my hero and I knew I meant something to him.”

— Penny Chenery

46

“If no horse beats you to the first turn, go to the front if you want,” Laurin told Turcotte. “But, whatever you do, don’t fight this colt if he wants to run.”

Riva Ridge almost didn’t make it to the starting gate for the Belmont, as the authors explain.

“A freak accident almost knocked Riva out of the (Belmont) before he left the paddock. Lucien was walking a somewhat frisky Riva around the paddock after saddling him when an overly-enthusiastic fan reached over the fence and playfully slapped Riva on the rump.

“The startled colt kicked out, striking his own hind leg. A guard hustled the spectator away, but the damage was done. Lucien’s face blanched when he saw the cut and the growing lump below the back hock of Riva’s left leg. Riva took four or five limping steps and Lucien feared his leg was broken. He was ready to scratch Riva from the Belmont. Then, amazingly, Riva seemed to just walk it off.”

But Turcotte could tell Riva Ridge was sore. As he related in the Riva Ridge book, “I could feel he was not going right in the race until we got to the end of the backstretch. It must have been stinging him quite a bit. To go out there and run like that … he’s a hell of a horse.”

Riva Ridge redeemed his Preakness loss by running the Belmont in the third fastest time and surpassing the likes of Count Fleet and Citation. He also became just the eighth horse to win the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, with a loss in the Preakness.

Three weeks after the Belmont, Laurin took Riva Ridge west for the Hollywood Derby at Hollywood Park. There, Riva Ridge put on another gate-towire performance and won a close one by a neck over Bicker.

The Hollywood Derby would be his final win that year, as he finished fourth in the Monmouth Invitational Handicap, second in the Stymie Handicap at Belmont, fourth behind Key to the Mint in the Woodward Stakes on a sloppy track at Belmont, third in the two-mile Jockey Gold Cup Stakes at Aqueduct (with Key to the Mint second) and sixth in the Washington, D.C. International on the turf at Laurel.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

Riva Ridge ran 12 races in 1972, won five, finished second once, third once and earned $395,632. However, in the year-end awards, his 2-year-old stablemate, Secretariat, won Horse of the Year honors, while his rival, Key to the Mint, was named champion 3-year-old male.

While losing those awards was disappointing for the Meadow Stable team, there was a silver lining. Thanks to his wins that year, Riva Ridge literally saved the farm. If it hadn’t been for him and the money he earned, Chenery’s farm might have been sold due to debt, Secretariat might have had to race for someone else and there might not have been a Triple Crown in 1973.

As it was, though, 1973 belonged to Secretariat, as he took the Meadow Stable team, and everyone in racing, on a dream ride to become the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Citation 25 years earlier.

PENNY’S HORSE Riva Ridge returned to form as a 4-year-old in 1973. His biggest wins that season came in the Grade 2 Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs and Grade 1 Brooklyn Handicap at Aqueduct. However, the inaugural Marlboro Cup Invitational was possibly the fans’ favorite, as Riva Ridge and Secretariat raced against each other. Run at Belmont Park on September 15, the Marlboro Cup was packed with a strong field that included three other champions in addition to the Meadow Stable duo—Key to the Mint, Cougar II and Kennedy Road. Riva Ridge led part of the way in the 1 1/8-mile contest before Secretariat swept by him to win by 3 1/2 lengths. Riva Ridge finished two lengths in front of Cougar II to give Meadow Stable the 1-2 finish.

Riva Ridge raced two more times in 1973, both at Aqueduct. He won the Grade 2 Stuyvesant Handicap over Forage on October 15 but then finished last

in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup 12 days later in his career finale. He ended the year with five wins and two seconds in nine starts, $212,602 in earnings and was named 1973 champion older horse.

In his career, Riva Ridge raced 30 times with 17 wins, three seconds, one third and $1,111,497 in earnings to become the sport’s 12th equine millionaire. He was syndicated for $5,120,000. Listed 57th in The Blood-Horse’s Thoroughbred Champions: Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century, Riva Ridge was inducted into the Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame in 1998.

Both Riva Ridge and Secretariat entered stud in 1974 at Claiborne Farm.

According to the farm’s website, Riva Ridge sired 359 foals in 12 crops, including 29 stakes winners.

In 1985, at age 16, Riva Ridge unexpectedly died in his paddock. When Secretariat died four years later, he joined his stablemate in the stallion cemetery next to Claiborne’s front office.

While Tweedy, who would revert to her maiden name of Chenery after her divorce, loved both horses, Riva Ridge was her favorite, as Ehalt wrote.

“As time passed, I’d [visit Claiborne, and] call to Secretariat and he wouldn’t acknowledge me,” Chenery said in the article. “I was just one of a hundred people calling his name every day. But right up until he died [in 1985], Riva Ridge would perk up when he heard me call him. That’s why when I talk about the two horses, I say Secretariat belonged to the people and Riva Ridge belonged to me. Secretariat had millions of people who cared about him. He didn’t need me. But Riva Ridge only had me. He was my hero and I knew I meant something to him.” HJ

Rick Capone is a semi-retired freelance writer living in Versailles, Kentucky, just down the road from Keeneland.

CALL HORSEMAN LABOR TODAY! We provide comprehensive labor solution of immigration and I-9 compliance issues.

For international labor needs including: • I-9 Compliance • P-1/P-1S Jockey and Valet visas • H-2B Temporary Worker visas • H-2A Agricultural and Farm visas

Horseman Labor Solutions assists in the immigration visa process for individuals who are: • Jockeys • Hot Walkers • Exercise Riders • Stable Attendants • Grooms • General Laborers

OFFICIALSPONSOR SPONSOR OFFICIAL of the the National NationalHBPA HBPA of

FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION Hablamos español

1-877-678-RACE (877-678-7223) THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

www.horsemanlabor.com 47

KEENELAND LIBRARY/THOROUGHBRED TIMES COLLECTION

Two in a Row

RICK CAPONE

RIVA RIDGE, WITH JOCKEY EDDIE MAPLE, WALKS TO THE TRACK FOR THE INAUGURAL MARLBORO CUP AT BELMONT PARK.

CHARLIE DAVIS, EXERCISE RIDER TO SECRETARIAT AND RIVA RIDGE, VISITING TINNERS WAY, THE LAST GREAT COLT BY SECRETARIAT, AT OLD FRIENDS THOROUGHBRED RETIREMENT FARM IN GEORGETOWN, KENTUCKY.

Whenever I’m asked who my favorite racehorse is, the answer is easy— Riva Ridge.

48

by Rick Capone

Whenever I’m asked who my favorite racehorse is, the answer is easy—Riva Ridge.

I first saw Riva Ridge on TV in 1972 winning the Kentucky Derby, and I fell in love with him. I began to read everything I could about him and the people at Meadow Stable—Penny Tweedy, Lucien Laurin, Ron Turcotte, Eddie Sweat, Jim Gaffney and Charlie Davis—and I looked forward to seeing him race again in the Preakness.

Needless to say, I was disappointed when he lost but then absolutely thrilled when he came back and won the Belmont Stakes. What a great race he ran that day.

With hardly any racing on television back then, it wasn’t until the following year that Meadow Stable was back in the news, this time with Secretariat and his historic Triple Crown triumph.

But as I watched Secretariat that spring, it made me think back to Riva Ridge. I would always tell my friends, “You know, if it wasn’t for a muddy track at Pimlico, Riva Ridge just might have won Meadow Stable’s first Triple Crown, and Secretariat would have made it two in a row.”

They’d think I was crazy. “Two in a row, not likely,” they’d say.

Flash forward 42 years, I am living in Lexington, Kentucky, and on a beautiful fall afternoon in 2015, I had spent most of the day at the Secretariat Festival in Paris, Kentucky, and immersed myself in everything about “Big Red.” My only regret was that I did not get to meet the folks from Meadow Stable as the line was so long.

Later that day, I was sitting in the office at Old Friends, the Thoroughbred retirement farm in Georgetown, Kentucky, where I volunteer, when a gentleman and his friend walked in. He went to the front desk and said, “Hi. My name is Charlie Davis, and I was told I could stop in and see Tinners Way. Would that be possible, please?”

Well, in one motion, I jumped out of the chair and across the room to stand next to him. “Hi,” I said, “I’d be happy to take you up to see Tinner.”

A bit startled at first, he smiled and said, “Thank you,” and then off we went.

We drove up the hill to the barn, where we waited for a golf cart. While waiting, we made small talk about the Secretariat Festival, Meadow Stable, Secretariat and Riva Ridge. I couldn’t believe I was actually talking to someone who had a connection to Riva Ridge.

During the conversation, I just felt compelled to tell him about my love for Riva Ridge. As I spoke, all I could think was, “Oh, he’s heard things like this his entire life.”

But he was polite and listened patiently as I told my little story.

“You know, Mr. Davis,” I said, “I loved Secretariat, but I’ve got to tell you, Riva Ridge is still my all-time favorite horse. I always tell my friends, who thought I’m crazy, that if it wasn’t for a muddy track at Pimlico …”

At that moment in my story, Mr. Davis looked at me and, for a moment, I could have sworn I saw a twinkle in his eye. He lowered his head, chin to chest, lifted his right arm, raised two fingers and waved them back and forth.

And that’s when I knew—he believed it too!

So I wasn’t as crazy as my friends had thought. The Meadow Stable folks believed the same thing that I had always believed—they could have had two Triple Crowns in a row.

A few minutes later the golf cart arrived and we were off to see Tinners Way, the last great colt by Secretariat.

When we arrived, Davis walked to the fence. Tinner, who rarely raised his head for anything, looked up, saw Davis and came right over to greet him. It was as if the two were old friends. It was an amazing moment to witness and one I will never forget.

After his visit, I took Davis and his friend back to their car. We shook hands, said our goodbyes and they drove away. I thought to myself, “I hope he enjoyed his visit as much as I did.”

Davis visited Tinners Way again the following year during the Secretariat Festival.

However, it would be their final meeting. Tinners Way died July 5, 2017, at age 27, and seven months later, on February 7, 2018, Davis passed away.

It was sad to hear, but a smile crossed my face thinking of the great heavenly reunion that awaited Davis, as Tinners Way, Secretariat and Riva Ridge would be there to greet him. A grand reunion indeed.

Postscript: Interestingly, in 2021, I came across an article written by Ron Turcotte titled “The Riva Ridge Story,” which can be found on Secretariat.com, where he said the same thing—two in a row!

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

AFFILIATE NEWS

COLORADO HORSEMEN’S ASSOCIATION Chavers, Kulow, Ring, Smith Elected to CHA Board The Colorado Horse Racing Association (CHA), the state’s statutorily recognized horsemen’s group for all racing breeds, officially announced the results of its board of directors election at its annual meeting Dec. 11 at The Celtic on Market Irish Pub & OTB. Owner/trainer Howie Chavers, owner Rob Ring and owner Robin Smith were elected to full three-year terms, while owner/ trainer Mark Kulow was elected to a one-year term. The top four vote-getters were the same horsemen appointed to the board last summer to fill vacancies after a rash of resignations.

Ballots were received by the Rocky Mountain Quarter Horse Association (RMQHA) and counted by representatives from both the RMQHA and Colorado Thoroughbred Breeders Association.

At the CHA’s monthly board meeting Dec. 14, owner/trainer Stacey Rushton was appointed to replace a director who was removed for not attending 50 percent of the regular meetings, per the organization’s bylaws. Rushton has trained since 1994 and has won stakes races in Colorado and New Mexico.

Also at the Dec. 14 meeting, the board unanimously agreed to have its current officers retain their leadership positions in 2022—owner/trainer Kim Oliver, president; owner/trainer Mark Schultz, vice president; owner Larry Terrell, treasurer (non-voting board member); and owner Lisa Trujillo, secretary (non-voting).

“Having the full membership elect the same group of horsemen we appointed to get us through a major transition last summer feels like a strong endorsement for our work,” said Oliver. “I am excited to add Stacey Rushton’s extensive knowledge of Colorado racing into the mix. We have a lot to look forward to in 2022 with what we expect will be more race dates and a very healthy purse account.”

The increased monies a casino would inject into the purse account and the HBPA coffers will be considerable. For our racing, it would mean larger purses and increased racing dates. Our organization will be able to improve the existing programs and reinstate programs we have been forced to discontinue.

All of us involved feel privileged to be a part of the rebirth of Illinois horse racing and specifically the rebuild on the horizon here at FanDuel.

This association commends our track management and ownership, the Illinois legislators and the horsemen who have stayed the course during these very difficult times. We look forward to full barns, full fields and an atmosphere of enthusiasm and competitive spirit surrounding our equine athletes.

It saddens us to report the passing of several prominent names in racing here in southern Illinois. Legendary jockey David Gall passed away over the summer. David Gall amassed 7,396 wins in his career. It goes without saying that we believe it’s time to put “Gall in the Hall” (National Horse Racing Hall of Fame).

Another exceptional rider, John Woodley, also passed away in 2021.

Woodley visited the winner’s circle 1,478 times on his way to multiple riding titles in southern Illinois.

We also lost two prominent trainers recently—Leonard Ellis, trainer of 30-plus years at Fairmount, and Eugene Young. Young trained some of the best horses to ever race here. He retired from training in 2004 with 583 wins to his credit. Young also served as the Illinois HBPA president for several terms and poured his heart and soul into our organization when he served.

We hope the next article will be one giving details as to the progress of our casino. The Illinois HBPA would like to wish all horsemen a safe and successful 2022!

Jim Watkins, President Illinois HBPA

IOWA HBPA Prairie Meadows 2022 Racing Season

ILLINOIS HBPA President’s Message In a recent visit to the administrative offices here at FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing, I took note of the “FanDuel Vision” posted in their office.

It reads: Our Vision Is to be the leader in Gaming, Entertainment and Hospitality as a destination place in the St. Louis area while continuing to provide and build on a rich family tradition of Thoroughbred horse racing that has served the public and community for over 95 years.

The Illinois HBPA shares in this vision and looks forward to a collaborative effort with management to realize this vision. In recent months, FanDuel has been finishing the administrative requirements and finalizing the plans for our casino project. It is anticipated that phase one of the casino can be completed in three months. We are hopeful a casino operation will be running this coming summer.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

Horsemen, it’s that time of year when we look forward to seeing everyone come back for racing here in the great state of Iowa.

You’ll note our racing calendar for 2022 showing 84 racing days for Thoroughbreds. In addition, we’ll be offering 616 racing opportunities with approximately $15 million in total available purses for 2022.

The backside will open April 15 with the first day of training set for April 17.

Thank you to Prairie Meadows for working with the Iowa HBPA in getting our 2022 racing season scheduled, and we look forward to seeing our horsemen here soon.

Horsemen Information Condition Book #1, Thoroughbred Stall Application, 2022 Thoroughbred Meet Live Racing Schedule, 2022 Thoroughbred Meet Training Schedule and Hours and other racing-related documents can be found on the Prairie Meadows website under the Horsemen’s Tab and in print at the Prairie Meadows Racing Office. We also have some information posted on our Iowa HBPA Facebook page and the Iowa HBPA website at IowaHBPA.org.

49

2022 LIVE NEWS

RACING

Altoona, Iowa

MAY 1 8 15 22 29

2 9 16 23 30

JUNE 3 10 17 24 31

4 11 18 25

5 12 19 26

6 13 20 27

7 14 21 28

JULY 3 10 17 24 31

4 11 18 25

5 12 19 26

6 13 20 27

FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS ♦ POST TIME 6PM* SUNDAYS & MONDAYS ♦ POST TIME 4PM* SELECT THURSDAYS ♦ POST TIME 6PM*

7 14 21 28

1 8 15 22 29

2 9 16 23 30

3 10 17 24

Thoroughbred Only May 13 – June 18 September 29 & October 2

4 11 18 25

Thoroughbred & Quarter Horse June 19 – October 1

SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER

AUGUST 5 12 19 26

6 13 20 27

7 14 21 28

1 8 15 22 29

2 9 16 23 30

7 14 21 28

1 8 15 22 29

2 9 16 23 30

3 10 17 24 31

4 11 18 25

5 12 19 26

6 13 20 27

4 11 18 25 2

5 12 19 26

6 13 20 27

7 14 21 28

1 8 15 22 29

2 9 16 23 30

3 10 17 24 1

SPECIAL RACE DAYS & EVENTS

TRIPLE CROWN RACE DAYS

May 30 ♦ Memorial Day ♦ Post Time 4pm

May 7 ♦ Kentucky Derby ♦ NO LIVE RACING

July 3 ♦ Fireworks ♦ Post Time 4pm

May 21 ♦ Preakness ♦ Post Time 6pm

July 4 ♦ Independence Day ♦ Post Time 4pm

June 11 ♦ Belmont ♦ Post Time 6pm

July 8 & 9 ♦ Festival of Racing ♦ Post Time 6pm August 20 ♦ Regional Challenge Finals ♦ Post Time 6pm August 21 ♦ Regional Challenge Finals ♦ Post Time 4pm September 5 ♦ Labor Day ♦ Post Time 4pm September 30 ♦ Quarter Horse Championships ♦ Post Time 6pm October 1 ♦ Iowa Classic ♦ Post Time 4pm

For more information, visit prairiemeadows.com /racing 50 *Post times are tentative and subject to change.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL SPRING 2022 We support responsible gaming. 800 BETS OFF.

AFFILIATE NEWS 2022 Iowa HBPA Schedule of Events May 12 – Iowa HBPA General Membership Meeting May 13 – Opening day of the Prairie Meadows race meet May 14 – Annual Iowa HBPA Awards presentation held in conjunction with ITBOA Awards July 3 – HART (Hope After Racing Thoroughbred) silent auction July 8-9 – Iowa Festival of Racing showcasing graded stakes races October 2 – Iowa Classics Night featuring Iowa-bred stakes races

Iowa HBPA Office Hours and Information Until the opening of the meet, our normal office hours will be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Once the meet begins May 13, we will have the office available six or seven days a week, with normal hours beginning at 9 a.m. and going till 3 p.m., and we can be reached at (515) 967-4804.

To see information about the Iowa HBPA, please visit our website at IowaHBPA.org. To keep up-to-date on news and issues occurring in Iowa, you can find us on our Facebook page at Iowa Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association Inc., follow us on Twitter @IowaHBPA and sign up to receive our emails at info@iowahbpa.org.

We look forward to seeing the return of our horsemen, including familiar and new faces!

KENTUCKY HBPA President’s Message Recently, I was contacted by several horsemen seeking information about the National HBPA. They asked several questions about the organization. Hopefully, I was able to provide them with an idea of what the National HBPA means to each and every horseman racing in the United States and Canada.

I explained the benefits of National HBPA membership to the various affiliates, including fire and disaster insurance, director and officers liability insurance, the National HBPA Foundation providing emergency assistance to horsemen approved by the foundation committee, a free copy of the awardwinning Horsemen’s Journal, a national lobbying group keeping horsemen informed on issues of national importance and national meetings where various affiliates come together to discuss areas of importance to all parties in the racing industry.

I emphasized to the group that the important thing to remember is that each affiliate can reach out to the National HBPA as a source of information and assistance, but the individual state horsemen’s group is responsible for governing itself the way it feels is best for the horsemen racing in its respective state.

I used the opportunity to reflect on the Kentucky HBPA’s accomplishments for the horsemen racing in Kentucky. During a contract dispute in 1994, the Interstate Horseracing Act was called into question by a racing association in Kentucky. The Federal Appeals Court ruled in favor to the Kentucky HBPA, referring to the horsemen’s group’s consent as a “veto” and holding this “veto affords the horsemen an important means of protecting the entire sport of horse racing.”

In 1978, the Kentucky HBPA lobbied the Kentucky General Assembly to obtain uncashed pari-mutuel tickets for the benefit of stable employees, THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

jockeys, mutuel clerks and others involved in racing if they show financial hardship. A separate corporation was formed, not affiliated with the Kentucky HBPA, but on whose board of directors the Kentucky HBPA president and vice president are selected to serve along with several others. Since its inception, this entity, called the Kentucky Racing Health and Welfare Fund, has paid out $48 million in medical assistance to needy individuals in Kentucky’s racing industry and more than $6 million in retirement benefits.

Additionally, for several years, the Kentucky HBPA has offered the services of a Hispanic liaison. Julio Rubio assists horsemen/women and their stable employees as well as jockeys with immigration paperwork and navigating the complex visa system.

For several years, the Kentucky HBPA has negotiated purse agreements with each Kentucky racetrack, and, due to its negotiation efforts, Kentucky horsemen/women are assured an equitable share of wagering revenue from sources in accordance with the terms of each racetrack’s contract. Further, on a daily basis, the Kentucky HBPA monitors wagering figures and monies due to be paid in purses under the purse contracts. It is through the contracts that proper housing for stable employees and suitable rent-free stabling for generous time periods prior to and after the race meetings end are available. The Kentucky HBPA also established “racing committees” at several racetracks, and they meet biweekly to air issues and concerns that often arise between horsemen/ women and racetracks.

Furthermore, the Kentucky HBPA financially supports scientific research and development of rational therapeutic equine medical policies together with proper testing procedures, standards and measurements. The Kentucky HBPA believes it is imperative to protect the equine athletes, and this may require considering that ultrasensitive testing could cause a trace-level positive to occur from therapeutic medication, but such a finding, in reality, may have no impact on the racehorse’s performance. The Kentucky HBPA also instituted an opt-out program whereby the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance will receive much-needed revenue for the sterling work it does for the protection of equine athletes. From its inception, the Kentucky HBPA has provided financial support to the Race Track Chaplaincy of America program.

Finally, it was the vision of the Kentucky HBPA president and board to agree to concessions in the Kentucky Downs contract that allowed management at the track to pursue and develop historical horse racing (HHR) machines at Kentucky Downs. The revenue for purses from the growth of HHR machines at all racetracks in Kentucky is directly attributed to that initial decision to assist one small track in Franklin County offering six days of racing.

Good luck in your racing endeavors.

Rick Hiles, President Kentucky HBPA

advertising deadline

SUMMER 2022

ADVERTISING SPACE RESERVATIONS: FRIDAY, MAY 20

AD MATERIALS DUE: WEDNESDAY, MAY 25 For more information or to reserve space, contact The Horsemen’s Journal advertising department at 716-650-4011 or advertising@hbpa.org

51

NEWS

BREEDERS’ CUP/ECLIPSE SPORTSWIRE

Churchill-Based Horses, Horsemen Stand Out at Eclipse Awards

BRAD COX DEFENDED HIS TITLE AS NORTH AMERICA’S ECLIPSE AWARD-WINNING TRAINER IN 2021.

BREEDERS’ CUP/ECLIPSE SPORTSWIRE

Churchill Downs-based and lifelong Louisvillian Brad Cox repeated as outstanding trainer as Kentucky horses and horsemen were at the forefront of the 51st Eclipse Awards ceremony crowning North America’s 2021 champions Feb. 10 at Santa Anita Park.

The Cox-trained Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Knicks Go was the overwhelming winner for Horse of the Year and older dirt male champion, receiving 228 of 235 ballots cast in voting by the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, Daily Racing Form and National Thoroughbred Racing Association. Cox also trained Essential Quality, the Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes winner who beat out the ill-fated Medina Spirit for 3-year-old male champion 131 to 84 in one of the closer votes.

Both Cox champions are now retired to stud in Kentucky—Knicks Go to Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville and Essential Quality to Darley at Jonabell in Lexington. The latter is the American stallion division of owner Godolphin, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum’s international racing and breeding empire, which was honored with the Eclipse Award as outstanding owner and breeder. Godolphin owns the homebred Essential Quality as well as Britishbased male turf champion Yibir.

KNICKS GO, WINNING LAST YEAR’S BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC AT DEL MAR UNDER EVENTUAL CHAMPION JOCKEY JOEL ROSARIO, LED KENTUCKY’S HAUL AT THE ECLIPSE AWARDS.

52

Korea Racing Authority’s Knicks Go won the $6 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar by 2 3/4 lengths at Del Mar over Medina Spirit, the late Kentucky Derby first-place finisher who Feb. 22 was announced by Kentucky stewards as officially disqualified over a medication infraction. (Unless Medina Spirit’s connections win their appeal, the Cox-trained Derby second-place finisher Mandaloun will be adjudged the winner, and Essential Quality will move up to third.)

Trainer Steve Asmussen, the Eclipse runner-up who last summer became North America’s all-time wins leader, added two more champions to his Hall of Fame record with Kentucky Downs co-owner Ron Winchell’s and L and N Racing’s unbeaten 2-year-old filly Echo Zulu, while Kirk and Judy Robison’s 3-year-old Jackie’s Warrior was voted the top male sprinter.

While based in New York for trainer Todd Pletcher, Malathaat’s coming-out party was her victory in Keeneland’s Ashland Stakes, which she followed with a riveting next triumph in the Kentucky Oaks. She’s owned by Shadwell Stables, whose American operation is headquartered in Lexington, and took home the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old filly.

Joel Rosario earned his first Eclipse Award in a season that included being the record-breaking meet-leader at Kentucky Downs, spending the fall meet at Churchill and riding regularly at Keeneland. He also was the regular rider of Knicks Go.

Kentucky HBPA Sponsors Four-Month Radio Show As part of its initiative to promote Kentucky horsemen and racing, the Kentucky HBPA was presenting sponsor for the four-month winter run of the weekly Kentucky Racing Spotlight radio show on Louisville’s ESPN 680, the market’s sports leader.

ESPN 680 approached Jennie Rees, the Kentucky HBPA communications specialist, about taking over the one-hour Friday evening time slot for the four months that Churchill Downs’ Inside Churchill Downs show goes on winter hiatus. Rees enlisted as co-host the Kentucky HBPA’s legislative advocate Joe Clabes, an independent consultant providing government affairs, policy and communications services with a focus on the Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry.

Kentucky Racing Spotlight presented by the Kentucky HBPA concluded March 4, with Rees and Clabes recording the finale’s segments while at the National HBPA Conference in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The show’s Jan. 21 episode was titled “Straight Talk About HISA,” with National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback, HBPA General Counsel Peter Ecabert and Association of Racing Commissioners International President and CEO Ed Martin sharing their views.

HISA’s general counsel and interim executive director declined to participate, citing pending litigation. All Kentucky Racing Spotlight programs are archived at davisinnovation.com/kyracing, with the marketing company Davis Innovation as the show’s digital media partner.

The Kentucky HBPA board, led by President Rick Hiles, quickly embraced the show’s concept last November and signed up as presenting sponsor.

“One of the Kentucky HBPA’s missions is to promote our horses and horsemen, and this show will do just that,” Kentucky HBPA Executive Director Marty Maline said before the show’s launch.

The radio program included a series of interviews with Kentucky legislators such as Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, Senators John Schickel and Robin Webb and Representatives Adam Koenig, Al Gentry, Matt Koch and Suzanne Miles. All are strong supporters of horse racing, with Schickel and Thayer sponsoring last year’s successful legislation that protected historical horse racing (HHR) in the state, thereby preserving the Kentucky circuit’s upward trajectory.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

AFFILIATE NEWS Since the legislation passed last February and was signed into law by Gov. Andy Beshear, Kentucky Downs opened The Mint Bowling Green, an HHR and simulcasting facility, and construction has started on Cumberland Run harness track in Corbin and its nearby Williamsburg HHR facility in eastern Kentucky in a joint venture between Kentucky Downs owners Ron Winchell and Marc Falcone and Keeneland. Also, Ellis Park is moving ahead with a satellite operation in Owensboro, and Churchill Downs is building a second Derby City Gaming in downtown Louisville while also expanding the original Derby City Gaming six miles from the racetrack.

Immigration Update: H-2B Lottery and Central American Workers Program

By Julio Rubio, Kentucky HBPA Backstretch Services Coordinator and Hispanic Liaison

The 2022 H-2B filing lottery recorded the largest number of filings ever received for the H-2B filing lottery window. The U.S. Department of Labor opened the filing window January 1-3 for the spring allotment of 33,000 available H-2B visas. During the three-day window, 7,875 companies filed applications for 136,555 positions. This is a substantial increase from the previous recordshattering lottery application filing in 2021 that saw 5,377 U.S. businesses apply for 96,641 positions. As the numbers demonstrate emphatically, the demand for seasonal labor currently far outpaces the availability of American workers to fill these spots.

Through the hard work of advocates in the National HBPA, we have been able to work with the federal government to adapt to the shortage of visas for our trainers who race in multiple locations throughout the year as they are able to extend their workers if they change work locations and, as a result, are eligible to be exempt from being counted against the cap when they extend their visas.

Additional H-2B visas have been legislatively authorized by Congress to be issued at the discretion of the White House. On Sept. 20, Congress authorized the Department of Homeland Security/USCIS to issue an additional 64,716 visas in consultation with the Department of Labor. At present, USCIS has authorized 20,000 additional visas to companies that were shut out of the previous allocation reserved for October 2021 to April 2022. These visas were reserved for workers who had been in the U.S. in the previous three years on H-2B visas or the so-called Triangle Countries. Last year, the Biden administration made stopping unauthorized northward migrations from Central America a priority, and, to induce the help of the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the administration has reserved a significant number of visas for nationals of these countries.

If you have been on the backside of any track or breeding farm lately and spoken with workers, you will probably already know that some of the best horsemen and women in the racing industry today come from an area of Guatemala called Santa Rosa. The administration has reserved 13,000 visas over the last year for Triangle Countries nationals and has tasked the U.S. Agency for International Development with working with the Triangle governments to facilitate recruitment, consular logistics and transportation of Triangle workers to their new employers in the U.S. The program shows great promise to the racing industry and will be a great help to trainers and breeders who may have been hit by the H-2B cap and, as a result, are chronically short‑staffed.

The Kentucky HBPA Is You

CUSTOM WALL PADDING SUPERIOR FLOORING OPTIONS for Barns, Exam and Surgery, Recovery Rooms Pavesafe • Trac-Roll • Vet-Trac

YOUR PADDING & FLOORING SPECIALIST

DANDY PRODUCTS, INC

The HBPA, established in 1940, is an organization of owners and trainers numbering more than 30,000 nationally in 23 states and Canada and more than 6,000 in Kentucky. The association is governed by a board of directors THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

consisting of owners and trainers volunteering their time and elected by the membership every three years. The HBPA is committed to working for the betterment of racing on all levels.

The HBPA represents owners and trainers on several fronts: • The HBPA negotiates in sessions with each racetrack regarding purse structure, equitable share of simulcast revenues, overall track safety, sanitation and security.

• The HBPA provides benevolence to horsemen in need; education and recreation programs to the backstretch; and various insurance packages, which include, free of charge to members, fire and disaster insurance. Visit one of the fully staffed HBPA offices at the currently running racetrack in Kentucky for details.

• The HBPA works in conjunction with the chaplaincy program and the Kentucky Racing Health and Welfare Fund to provide support and benefits for horsemen.

• The HBPA supports scientific research and marketing initiatives on a regional and national level to help promote interest in Thoroughbred racing.

• The HBPA is at the forefront in litigation and legislation on issues involving horsemen’s rights with regards to interstate simulcasting, proprietary rights, casino gambling, therapeutic medication, sports betting and many other areas of concern to horsemen.

How Can I Join?

You are invited to drop into the HBPA office to meet the staff and learn more about current projects and how you can get involved in helping to improve the industry. There are no membership fees. Remember that this is your organization. Become an active participant and one of the “horsemen helping horsemen.” To join, all you need to do is fill out our membership card and fax, mail or email it back to us. For more information, please visit our website at kyhbpa.org and click on “Become a Member.”

SPRING 2022

3314 St. Rt. 131, Goshen, OH 45122 513-625-3000 • 888-883-8386 • F 513-625-2600 www.dandyproducts.net 53

NEWS

Evangeline Downs Racetrack & Casino 2022 Race Meet

Delta Downs Racetrack & Casino 2021-2022 Race Meets

2235 Creswell Lane Extension, Opelousas, LA 70570 Toll Free: 866-4-Racing * www.evangelinedowns.com

2717 Delta Downs Dr., Vinton, LA 70668 * 337-589-7441 * www.deltadowns.com Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu

Fri

Sat

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu

October 2021

13 14 15 20 21 22 27 28 29 November 2021 03 04 05 10 11 12 17 18 19 23 24 26

Fri

February 2022 02 03 04 09 10 11 16 17 18 23 24 25

16 23 30

Sat

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu

June 2022 01 02 08 09 15 16 22 23 29 30 July 2022

05 12 19 26

March 2022 02 03 04 05

06 13 20 27

03 10 17 24

Sat

Wed

Thu

Fri

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

Sun

06 13 20 27

Sat

Sun

November 2021

Mon

Tue

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

06

07

08

09

06

07 08 09

13

14

15

16

13

14 15 16

20

21

22

23

20

21 22 23

27

28

29

30

27

28 29 30

May 2022

07 14 21 28

August 2022

04

05

06

07

03

04 05 06

11

12

13

14

10

11 12 13

18

19

20

21

17

18 19 20

25

26

27

28

24

25 26 27

84 Thoroughbred Days

01

02

03

04

08

09

10

11

15

16

17

18

22

23

24

25

29

30

Harrah’s Louisiana Downs 2022 Race Meets 8000 Hwy 80 East, PO Box 5519, Bossier City, LA 71171 318-742-5555 * www.ladowns.com

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

February 2022

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu

Fri

January 2022

Sat

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu

Fri

Sat

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu

April 2022

Fri

06

10 11 12

13 14

17 18 19

25 26 27 20 21

24 25 26

28 December 2021

March 2022

02 03 04

01

03 04 05

05

09 10 11 06

09 10 11 12

12

16 17 18 13

16 17 18 19

20

23 24 25 26

19 20 26 27

30 31

27

January 2022 02 03 09 10 16 17 23/30

80 Thoroughbred Days

Sat

July 2022 02

03 04 05

28

Sat

01 02

29 30 May 2022 04 05 11 12 18 19 25 26

Mon

July 2022

June 2022

1751 Gentilly Blvd. New Orleans, LA 70119 Tue

Tue

April 2022

46 Quarter Horse Days

2021-2022 Race Meets Mon

Mon

04 11 18 25

Fair Grounds Race Course

Sun

Sun

01 02 06 07 08 09 13 14 15 16

84 Thoroughbred Days April 2022

December 2021 01 02 03 04 08 09 10 11 15 16 17 18 20 21 22 23 29 30 31 January 2022 01 05 06 07 08 12 13 14 15 19 20 21 22 26 27 28 29

Fri

10 11 12

03 04 05 06 07

03 04 05

09

17 18 19

10 11 12

16

24 25 26

17 18 19

23

31 February 2022

46 Quarter Horse Days May 2022

01 02

07

24/31

25 26 August 2022

30

01 02

06

07 08 09

08 09 10

14 07 08 09

13

14 15 16

15 16 17

21 14 15 16

20

21 22 23

22 23 24

28 21 22 23

27

28

29 30 31

28 29 30

March 2022

June 2022

01 02

September 2022 04

03

01

06 07 08 09

05 06 07

11 04 05 06

10

06 07 08

13 14 15 16

12 13 14

18 11 12 13

17

13 14 15

20 21 22 23

19 20 21

25

24

20 21 22

27 28 29 30 31

26 27 28

18/25 19/26 20/27

84 Thoroughred Days

27 28 29

54

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

AFFILIATE NEWS LOUISIANA HBPA Delta Downs The 2022 Quarter Horse meet at Delta Downs begins April 29 and ends July 16, featuring the Lee Berwick Futurity on closing day. The Futurity has an estimated purse of $1 million for the 2022 edition. Also, on July 16, the card will feature Louisiana-bred races including the Delta Derby. The July 16 card will have eight stakes worth more than $1.3 million in purses. On July 9, the $100,000 added Firecracker Futurity will be contested. For additional information, contact the Delta Downs racing office at (888) 589-7223.

Evangeline Downs The 2022 Thoroughbred meet at Evangeline Downs begins April 6 and ends Aug. 27. Louisiana Legends night will be June 4 with six Louisiana-bred Stakes for more than $450,000 in purses. For a complete stakes schedule, visit the Evangeline Downs website at evdracing.com. Turf racing will begin in late April. For additional information, contact the Evangeline Downs racing office at (337) 594-3022.

Louisiana Downs The 2022 Louisiana Downs Thoroughbred meet begins May 7 and concludes Sept. 27. For additional information, contact the Louisiana Downs racing office at (318) 741-2511.

MINNESOTA HBPA Canterbury Park Development With just about a month before the Canterbury Park stable area opens for the 2022 meet with record purses, there is big news regarding the ongoing development at the Minnesota racetrack.

Four years ago, Canterbury Park began a development that is destined to become one of the primary entertainment destinations in the Midwest. It began with luxury apartments, townhomes and a new headquarters for premiere construction company Greystone, and now Canterbury Park will be the site of a 19,000-seat amphitheater while also spending an estimated $15 million on the stable area.

The letter below is from Canterbury Park President and CEO Randy Sampson detailing the latest development: Dear Horse Racing Stakeholders, On Tuesday [Feb. 15], Canterbury Park will announce development plans for a 40-acre parcel of land on the northeast portion of our property. We have an agreement to sell this land to Swervo Development Corporation, a local development company that intends to build a 19,000-seat amphitheater, with the associated parking and amenities necessary for a venue of this size. We believe this amphitheater is an excellent fit for this location and will continue to enhance our status as a leading entertainment and recreation destination in Minnesota. A press release is below.

Our decision to sell this land to create an amphitheater was made with careful consideration of the potential impact on horse racing as well as the community. Swervo, working with the City of Shakopee, has completed an Environmental Assessment Worksheet that evaluated many questions raised by a project of this size. One of those factors is the impact of sound. We are pleased that the sound studies have indicated that due to the direction of the stage as well as the design of the facility and sound system, impact on the surrounding area, including the backside, will be minimal. We look forward to having the sound-engineering experts attend a Minnesota Racing Commission meeting to present their findings and address any of your concerns.

However, the footprint of the project will impact 19 of our existing barns.

After review of the options, we determined that the best solution is to build six large, modern barns on the eastern side of the present training track and reconfigure the training track to best accommodate these new facilities. A site plan also is attached that shows the location of the amphitheater as well as the proposed improvements to the barn area.

We believe this multi-million-dollar investment will modernize our facilities and improve the quality of our backstretch services. We look forward to working closely with the Minnesota Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and Minnesota Racing Commission staff as we continue to refine our stable area investment plans to best fit everyone’s needs and seek MRC approval for the barn-area redevelopment.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me or Andrew Offerman at your convenience.

Sincerely, Randy Sampson President and CEO 952-445-7223

Press Release: New Projects Will Add to Property’s Entertainment Experience and Strengthen Horse Racing Operations Canterbury Park Holding Corporation announced two new proposed development projects that will respectively elevate the entertainment experience at the property and significantly strengthen the company’s horse racing operations. One project includes the company’s agreement to sell approximately 40 acres in the northeast corner of the property to Minneapolis-based Swervo Development Corporation, which plans to build a state-of-the-art, 19,000-seat amphitheater as part of the Canterbury Commons development, subject to state and local regulatory approvals.

Pending approval of the amphitheater development, Canterbury also plans to invest in significant improvements to its horse stabling area. This multimillion-dollar barn area redevelopment project will continue the company’s ongoing commitment to providing quality horse racing in the state of Minnesota as well as allowing for future development of Canterbury’s underutilized land.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

55

NEWS “These new proposed development projects are significant steps in our long-term vision to continue to position Canterbury Park, Canterbury Commons and the City of Shakopee as a leading regional destination that offers a combination of residential, hospitality, commercial, retail and entertainment attractions and experiences,” said Randy Sampson, Chairman and CEO of Canterbury Park. “The proposed amphitheater will be a centerpiece of our Canterbury Commons development and reflects our strategic focus on working with accomplished partners to create best-in-class live, work and play amenities and customer experiences as we continue the development of our available land.”

“We welcome the news about Canterbury Park’s further investment in its horse racing operations and look forward to starting the city review process for Swervo’s amphitheater proposal, which has tremendous potential to provide additional entertainment choices and boost our local economy,” Shakopee Mayor Bill Mars said. “Canterbury Park has deep roots in Shakopee, and its development efforts will only strengthen our community in the future.”

New 19,000-Seat Amphitheater Canterbury Park and Swervo have entered into a purchase agreement whereby Swervo will acquire approximately 40 acres of land along Canterbury Road and Unbridled Avenue, subject to the receipt of needed regulatory approvals. Swervo Development has been working with the City of Shakopee as the city completes an environmental review of their amphitheater development proposal. The Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) assesses the impact of the proposed development on traffic, sound, water, sewer and other environmental factors, demonstrating that these factors have been sufficiently considered and will be in compliance with all local and state regulations.

Upon completion, the 19,000-seat amphitheater is expected to be a significant attraction for major music acts and other events. The new amphitheater will build on Swervo’s past success in developing similar projects, including their successful transformation of the 1930s-era Armory building in downtown Minneapolis into a vibrant 8,400-person live music venue and events center in 2018.

“The initial EAW report confirms our belief that Canterbury Commons is an ideal site for entertainment venues like the proposed amphitheater,” Sampson said. “We have successfully managed large events for many years, and the transportation infrastructure is in place and able to accommodate the projected traffic. Canterbury Park has been a good neighbor in Shakopee for more than 27 years, and we take our community responsibilities very seriously. The EAW is the first step in the approval process for Swervo’s proposed amphitheater project, and we look forward to working with the community and hearing their feedback as the review process progresses. We are confident this amphitheater will be embraced by both the community and people throughout this region who have wanted a high-quality performance venue to enjoy outdoor concerts during our limited summer seasons.”

Renovation of Horse Stabling Areas Canterbury’s planned investment in its horse stabling area will include a renovation of existing facilities, the addition of new barns, stables and dorms and a reconfiguration of the existing training track. Canterbury intends to present this redevelopment plan to the Minnesota Racing Commission for regulatory review in the second quarter of 2022. If approved, construction is expected to commence following the 2022 live racing season without interrupting the 2023 racing season.

“This is a significant investment in Minnesota’s horse racing industry and an important commitment by Canterbury Park,” said Pete Mattson, president of Minnesota Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, an advocate for owners and trainers participating in Thoroughbred racing in the state of Minnesota. “The modernization of the stable area at Canterbury Park is important to the horses and people that call Canterbury Park home each 56

summer. We look forward to working with Canterbury throughout the process to create an improved stable area for the future of racing in Minnesota.”

“We are very excited about both of these projects and the opportunity to complement our horse racing, card casino and entertainment operations with a world-class outdoor music venue in Canterbury Commons,” Sampson said.

“These projects will provide significant employment and economic benefits for the City of Shakopee and the surrounding region as well as enhance our horse racing operations. The amphitheater and barn area redevelopment projects, along with the other high-quality developments already underway, demonstrate our continued commitment to provide distinctive and complementary experiences that meet our guests and the community’s expectations and improve the quality of life in Shakopee and Scott County.”

MOUNTAINEER PARK HPBA Enrollment Open for West Virginia Racing Commission Retirement Plan The enrollment period for the West Virginia Racing Commission Retirement Plan for Backstretch Workers for the 2021 plan year will take place April 15 through May 15. Visit the HBPA office for more information and applications.

Participants must complete the applications each program year to be eligible.

The plan is in the process of moving to a participant-directed plan. This will enable participants to be able to view their accounts and request distributions if eligible. The HBPA will have more information as it becomes available.

2022 Race Meet Kicks Off April 18 Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort will kick off its 2022 race meeting April 18 and race through Dec. 14 with a 7 p.m. post. The Grade 3 West Virginia Derby and Grade 3 Governor’s Stakes will be held Aug. 5 with a 2 p.m. post.

Continuing Education Classes The Mountaineer Park HBPA will continue to host continuing education classes for trainers and assistant trainers. More than 40 trainers and assistant trainers already have earned their four credit hours that are required by the West Virginia Racing Commission. Trainers and assistant trainers also can take their classes online to earn their continuing education credits. Anyone needing assistance should contact the HBPA office.

Mountaineer Park Chaplaincy The Mountaineer Park Chaplaincy is excited to be kicking off its second season under the direction of Rick Anderson. The Chaplaincy has plans to continue the regular donuts and coffee events as well as the Monday Mid-Day Ministry, but they are always looking for input and new ideas. Please take a minute to stop by and visit with Rick to provide some feedback.

The food pantry remains available to those in need. Stop by the chapel or the HBPA office for more information.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

2022 Colonial Downs MORE DAYS MORE MONEY July 11 thru Sept 7 Monday–Wednesday 1:30 post

n $600,000 average daily purses, with $3.5 million in stakes races. MSW - $60,000

Virginia certified horses

n $1,000 minimum purse share for every horse that starts

n Groom Elite training programs for backstretch workers Continuing Education sessions for trainers and assistant trainers

n $300 trainer bonus for every starter

n Free Wi-Fi in the horsemen’s building

n Increased purses for Virginiabred, Virginia-sired and

n Free VRC licensing for owners, trainers, etc.

Stall applications and Stakes schedule available at ColonialDowns.com Condition Book coming soon

Virginia HBPA

38-C Garrett Street, Warrenton, VA 20186 703-999-7491 • Email: fpetramalo@msn.com • www.virginiahorseracing.com

NEWS

Horsemen Help Promote Thoroughbred Racing Industry at the State Capitol The Mountaineer Park HBPA, Charles Town HBPA and the West Virginia Thoroughbred Breeders Association have once again joined forces to promote the Thoroughbred racing industry at the West Virginia Capitol by participating in Farm Bureau and Agriculture Days.

These events provide an opportunity to showcase the Thoroughbred industry’s contribution to the agricultural makeup of our state to our elected representatives.

NEW ENGLAND HBPA

COURTESY NEW ENGLAND HBPA

COURTESY NEW ENGLAND HBPA

Reviving Thoroughbred Breeding in Massachusetts

“The breeders’ bill would help us quickly repopulate Massachusetts Thoroughbreds, and it would be a tremendous help to these farmers who are struggling to keep their farms together,” Spadea said. “This isn’t just about horses or even racing. It’s about our rural economy, our farms and all the local stores that rely on these farms for goods and services.”

Brown’s 17-acre farm helps support the local sawmill that cuts her fencing, the local hardware stores and the blacksmiths, veterinarians, tack shops and other businesses she relies on.

While sometimes overlooked, the horse industry in Massachusetts is consequential. The Massachusetts Farm Bureau reported in 2016 that the equine business—horses for riding, competitions and racing by Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds—is a $386-million business in Massachusetts.

If passed this year by the legislature, the breeder’s bill could be the third leg in a trifecta in Massachusetts that is attempting to pass a sportsbetting bill that would allow wagering on a mobile device. The other leg is the development of a new racetrack and equine center to replace the now-closed Suffolk Downs.

What the breeding legislation also would accomplish is the creation of a race-ready population of trained Thoroughbreds who could run in Massachusetts when a new racing facility is built and operational.

MASSACHUSETTS BREEDER AND OWNER ARMAND JANJIGIAN WITH HIS WIFE, ROBIN, AND TWO OF THEIR BROOD AT THEIR FARM IN MEDFIELD.

As a teenager growing up in Massachusetts near the Rhode Island border, Arlene Brown saved up her babysitting money and quickly converted it into renting a horse for an afternoon of riding. That was 70 years ago, but Arlene is as passionate today about horses as that 13-year-old girl.

As the owner of the Briar Hill breeding farm in nearby Rehoboth, Arlene said Massachusetts breeding has been in a steady decline for more than two decades.

“In 2000, we could count 96 mares and 25 stallions,” she said. “But a lot has changed in the horse business, and it is changing our rural character as one multigenerational farm after another is sold to raise houses instead of horses.

A nearby farm where my late husband, George, and I used to buy hay is now a housing development, so now I drive to Connecticut to buy the hay we need.”

As a longtime member of the Massachusetts Thoroughbred Breeders Association, in which she continues to serve as board secretary, Brown is again urging the Massachusetts Legislature to pass a long-delayed measure that would help revive Thoroughbred breeding in Massachusetts by allowing out-of-state horses to birth their foals in Massachusetts and qualify as a Massachusetts-bred horse to qualify for purse winnings in horse races.

To qualify for that designation, an out-of-state horse would have to remain on a Massachusetts farm for at least six months. The bill also would allow yearlings up to the age of 2 to qualify for Massachusetts-restricted races if they also remain stabled on a Massachusetts farm for six months.

Anthony Spadea, president of the New England Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and a member of the breeders’ board, said the breeders’ bill is essential for the future of Thoroughbred racing in Massachusetts as horsemen continue to work with developers to build a new racetrack.

58

BREEDERS IN MASSACHUSETTS ARE DOING EVERYTHING THEY CAN TO MAKE ENDS MEET. ARLENE BROWN (LEFT) IS SEEN HERE LAST SPRING AT HER BRIAR HILL FARM WITH ONE OF TWO BROODMARES THAT ARRIVED FROM PENNSYLVANIA’S CABIN CREEK FARMS.

NEW MEXICO HORSEMAN’S ASSOCIATION Horsemen File Complaint Against Regulators; Ask Court to Hold Commission, Gaming Board In Contempt The New Mexico Horsemen’s Association (NMHA) has filed an ethics complaint against the agencies that regulate racing in the state as part of the ongoing dispute over racetracks unlawfully diverting purse money to go toward track expenses and the racing commission’s retaliatory effort to defund the horsemen’s organization.

Additionally, the NMHA has asked a judge to hold the New Mexico Racing Commission and the New Mexico Gaming Control Board in contempt for not following an earlier court order that would resume horse owners’ contributions to the horsemen’s organization.

Gary Mitchell, the general counsel for the NMHA, called it an effort to silence the state’s traditional, and largest, advocate for horsemen, representing more than 4,000 Thoroughbred owners and trainers.

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

AFFILIATE NEWS “If you start doing away with the advocates that appear before the various state agencies and you exact this kind of retribution, it sets a dangerous precedent,” he said.

The complaint was filed with the New Mexico State Ethics Commission on Feb. 24.

The Background New Mexico legalized electronic slot machines at racetracks in the early 1990s with the stipulation that 20 percent of the net revenue would go toward purses to bolster horse racing and protect the industry’s thousands of jobs.

The amount comes to more than $30 million a year paid out to racehorse owners competing at the state’s tracks. The NMHA—at its own expense—has administered the purse account ever since, with regular audits showing not even a penny has ever been lost or found out of place.

The NMHA has been funded by voluntary contributions from its member horse owners who earn purse money: 1 percent of what their horse earns goes toward the organization’s administrative costs, along with a $5 per-start fee earmarked to help members with medical expenses and a $2 per-start fee for the horsemen’s legislative and advocacy efforts.

The NMHA filed suit in the Second Judicial District Court in Bernalillo County in December 2020 to stop the commission’s years-long practice of taking horsemen’s purse money to pay the racetracks’ liability insurance on jockeys and exercise riders, in clear violation of state law. The transfer of purse money to pay track operating expenses has cost horsemen to date more than $8 million.

In retribution, the New Mexico Racing Commission in May 2021 voted to defund the NMHA by cutting off its revenue stream, falsely asserting that purse money was improperly going to the horsemen’s organization. (Once purse money is earned by an owner’s horse after a race is made official, those funds become that individual’s property, in other words, “earned income,” to use however they desire, including voluntary contributions to the NMHA.) The New Mexico Gaming Control Board backed the commission, even after its own hearing officer ruled in favor of the horsemen on this matter. Racing commission chair Sam Bregman also serves on the gaming control board.

In August 2021, District Court Judge Erin B. O’Connell also ruled in favor of the horsemen and stayed the commission’s action, meaning horsemen should have been getting those contributions. Mitchell said the commission has not complied with that ruling.

“We have not received any of those contributions,” he said. “We’re now asking the judge who issued that stay to hold the racing commission in contempt.”

The NMHA is asking that the monies lost during that time be refunded, totaling approximately $300,000. The ethics complaint accuses the New Mexico Racing Commission and the New Mexico Gaming Control Board of conspiring for

the express purpose of undermining the horsemen’s representative.

“This was just a power move by the racing commission to show us that they’re the regulatory agency and you better not take them on,” Mitchell said.

“And if you take them on, you’re going to die. ‘If you come in here and don’t come in on your knees and bow down to us and do exactly what we say, the punishment for you is going to be your destruction.’ ” Mitchell believes this case has broader implications for state government in New Mexico.

“What we have here are two state agencies that are refusing to obey a court order and refusing to follow the recommendation of its own hearing officer,” he said. “You can’t have state agencies that ignore the courts just so they can diminish those they don’t care for.

“This is so un-American, those guys shouldn’t be saying the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of their meetings.”

The horsemen also filed a federal lawsuit late last June in U.S. District Court against the commission, charging the regulatory body with depriving racehorse owners and trainers of their civil rights as well as other related violations.

The involved parties agreed in November to a “time out” to try to find an amicable solution. Following the horsemen’s good-faith effort to negotiate and with no settlement achieved by Feb. 1, the NMHA believes the racing commission was simply attempting to interfere with court proceedings. The NMHA has requested that the court return the case to the federal docket and move forward toward issuing a ruling.

NMHA President Roy Manfredi said horsemen are left with few options.

“The horsemen feel that since the racing commission is failing to negotiate, the only thing we can do is litigate,” he said. “The chairman of the racing commission runs everything. He runs the gaming and the racing commission. It’s a clear conflict that he sits on both boards.

“But beyond that, [the chairman] insists that the money the horsemen were getting was purse funds [from gaming],” he continued. “This is not true. Once a horse runs and I earn a purse, that becomes my money. The horsemen are taxed on that money. We get a 1099 from the racetrack for those funds. After the race, it is no longer gaming funds.”

OHIO HBPA Despite Tough Winter Weather, Business Strong at Mahoning Valley Difficult winter weather has led to 12 cancellations since the beginning of the year at Mahoning Valley Race Course through late February with one of those being a makeup day for a previously canceled program. Three of those cards

Don’t Start Without Us!

True Center Gate

Established 1950

Leading the industry with a history of innovation

• Custom-made racetrack & training gates • Built for strength and durability • 50+years in the industry

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

l for Ideaining a r T nters Ce

SPRING 2022

For more information: Diane Fleming (602) 524-8437 Dave Russ (602) 418-1735 moreinfo@turecentergate.com

www.truecentergate.com

59

NEWS

WEST VIRGINIA Horse Coalition Announces Launch After a year of planning and organizational meetings, the horse community in West Virginia launched the West Virginia Horse Coalition Feb. 1 at the State Capitol at the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.

This public/private partnership has been formed under the leadership of West Virginia Department of Agriculture Commissioner Kent Leonhardt. The West Virginia Horse Coalition will strengthen the industry, provide the necessary infrastructure and increase tourism and economic development opportunities throughout the state of West Virginia.

“West Virginia has a lot to gain by bringing stakeholders together to create a unified strategy for expanding our equine industry,” said Leonhardt. “The

first step was to form a West Virginia Horse Coalition, setting the stage for improvements. We are excited for what this group will put forward, but I promise the Horse Coalition has the potential for spurring economic development, increased recreational opportunities and farm incomes for our state.”

The coalition, which represents horse owners, trainers, small businesses, veterinarians, advocacy groups, farmers and ancillary service providers, has set an aggressive plan to promote and protect the horse industry in the state and the surrounding region. The website located at westvirginiahorsecoalition. org will feature membership information, contact information for regional chair‑persons, boarding facilities, a calendar of events, medical services, disease alerts, education and equine-related tourism.

COURTESY PERRY BENNETT

have already been made up with several more makeup dates scheduled during the remainder of the meet to ensure the track will race 100 days in 2022 as required by contract between the Ohio HBPA and Mahoning Valley Race Course.

Despite the cancellations, business has been strong at the meet. Through the first 20 full days of racing in 2022, average daily all-sources handle has been $1,147,429 from a total of 173 races with 1,347 starters for an average field size of 7.78. The comparable first 20 days of racing at Mahoning Valley in 2021 saw an average daily all-sources handle of $979,871 from a total of 167 races with 1,405 starters for an average field size of 8.41. The first 20 days of 2020 saw an average all-sources daily handle of $1,010,668 from 160 races with 1,395 starters for an average field size of 8.71. In 2019, the first 20 days of racing at Mahoning Valley produced an average daily all-sources handle of $967,406 from a total of 172 races with 1,555 starters for an average field size of 9.04.

Belterra Park’s 93-day live meeting will begin April 28 with an overall purse increase of more than 5 percent in store for horsemen at the Cincinnati-area track. Racing will be conducted on a Tuesday through Friday schedule each week. Belterra Park will host its Best of Ohio card Friday, June 3, featuring five Ohio-bred stakes each worth $100,000.

Thistledown’s live meeting begins Monday, April 25, and will feature 100 days of live racing through Thursday, October 13. At press time, purses for the meet had not been finalized as the track was still in the process of hiring a new racing secretary, but strong VLT results should lead to a purse increase in the 10 percent range for the meet. Thistledown will race on a Monday through Thursday schedule for the majority of its meet with some special Saturday cards. Among those are Saturday, June 25, which will feature Ohio’s only graded stakes race—the Grade 3 Ohio Derby—as well as two Ohio-bred stakes.

Thistledown’s 2022 Best of Ohio card will take place Saturday, Aug. 23, and also will feature five Ohio-bred stakes each with a $100,000 purse.

WEST VIRGINIA’S HORSE COMMUNITY RECENTLY JOINED FORCES TO FORM THE WEST VIRGINIA HORSE COALITION TO PROMOTE AND PROTECT THE INDUSTRY IN THE STATE AND SURROUNDING REGION.

“We are excited to announce the formation of the West Virginia Horse Coalition,” said Jana Tetrault, a West Virginia Horse Coalition board member.

“At the invitation of Kent Leonhardt, we brought together people involved in the horse industry throughout the state to discuss the strengths and weaknesses in our state. This group of enthusiastic members continued to meet, and the result is the formation of this coalition.”

In the coming months, the regional chairpersons will be working in their regions to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses that exist in West Virginia as pertaining to the horse industry. In addition, they will continue to gather grassroots support and membership to strengthen the coalition.

The horse industry in the state includes owners with one horse to the two live Thoroughbred racetracks in the state with thousands of horses. It encompasses every discipline from saddle seat to hunter/jumper to rodeo.

“Recent data from the USDA shows the enormous impact that the horse industry has as an economic driver and a tourism attraction,” Tetrault said.

“Through this coalition, we plan to increase the overall impact on tourism and the economy in West Virginia.”

For more information, contact the West Virginia Horse Coalition at info@westvirginiahorsecoalition.org and on Facebook. HJ

Advertisers’ Index Colonial Downs.......................................... 57

HBPA Mission Statement............................ 41

Dandy Products Inc.................................... 53

Horseman Labor Solutions......................... 47

Daily Racing Form...................................... 33

Ownerview.................................................. 45

Delaware Park............................................ 14

Secretariat Center...................................... 40

Equine Equipment...................................... 13

Signal Health............................................... 7

equineline.com.......................................... IFC

Soft Ride.................................................... 25

Farrier Product Distribution.......................... 9

Sterling Thompson Equine........................IBC

Finish Line Horse Products Inc................. 4, 5

Thoroughbred Charities of America............ 17

60

Thoroughbred Racing Association of Oklahoma............................................... 31 True Center Gate........................................ 59 TVG............................................................ 15 University of Arizona.................................. 16 Wyn Oaks Farm.......................................... 21 Xpressbet...................................................BC

THE HORSEMEN’S JOURNAL

SPRING 2022

Are You Covered?

OWNERS’ & TRAINERS’ LIABILITY PROGRAM

What is it?

A program to protect your assets in case of an injury or damage to property arising from your equine activities (breeding, racing, sales, training).

This is not a substitute for workers’ compensation coverage.

What Does It Cover?

• Liability claims arising from injuries to participants (non-employee jockeys and exercise riders) • Contractual liability (i.e. hold harmless in Race Track Stall Agreements) • Premises and Operations liability coverage for all equine operations including breeding, boarding, training, and racing.

How Much Does It Cover?

Each member additional insured has their own $1,000,000 coverage for each occurrence or offense and $2,000,000 general aggregate.

Damage to premises rented to you or occupied by you with the permission of the owner is provided with a limit of $50,000. Medical payments coverage applies as well in the amount of $5,000 per person.

Formerly

Cost: $50 Per Horse / $100 Minimum Premium (Beginning May 1st)

Stone Lane, LLC 3006 Eastpoint Parkway • Louisville, KY 40223 Phone: 502.228.1600 • Fax: 502.638.5060

Endorsed by The National Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, Inc.

Sterlingthompsonequine.com

1/ST BET //

RACING’S PREMIER BETTING PRODUCTS EXCLUSIVE SIGN UP BONUS • $10 INSTANTLY WHEN YOU SIGN UP • 10% REBATE FOR 30 DAYS, UP TO $1,000 • USE PROMO CODE: PLAYERSADW

THE OFFICIAL APP OF: GULFSTREAM PARK // PEGASUS WORLD CUP PREAKNESS // PIMLICO // LAUREL PARK // SANTA ANITA // GOLDEN GATE FIELDS Must be 18 or older (21 in AL, AZ, IA, IN, KS, NH, ND, WA) to open an account with 1/ST and reside in a state where such activity is legal. Void where prohibited.

National Gambling Support Line 800.522.4700.

OFFICIALSPONSOR SPONSOR OFFICIAL of the the National NationalHBPA HBPA of