HORSESHOE INDIANAPOLIS HOSTS TRACK SUPERINTENDENTS FIELD DAY

BY JENNIE REES

Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National HBPA, told an assembly of track superintendents in June that simply piling on more regulations will not make racing safer and that it is hamstringing the very horsemanship that is needed now more than ever. Hamelback further said that unsoundness doesn’t “just start at the track” and the breeding industry needs to take a hard look at itself as well.

Hamelback spoke at the 22nd annual Track Superintendents Field Day staged June 11-13 at Horseshoe Indianapolis. The event brought together 62 participants representing 40 racetracks and coming from as far away as Saudi Arabia. Conference topics included soil science, turf course engineering, advances in sod, preparing for emergency situations, best practices for track and regulatory staffs, emerging technology (including driverless mowers), hiring strategies and managing the nuisance of Canada geese.

Unsurprisingly, the speakers who attracted the most questions were Ann McGovern, who oversees the Racetrack Safety Program for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), and Hamelback. The National HBPA is among the entities challenging the constitutionality of the federal legislation enabling HISA and its broad powers.

While their organizations are at odds over how to best achieve national uniformity while improving safety, Hamelback and McGovern agreed on the importance of the track superintendents and crews tasked with caring for their racing and training surfaces.

McGovern, who has lengthy experience as a racetrack executive, called track superintendents “an unsung hero position.”

“You guys can make or break a racetrack literally,” she said. “Giving you the tools to do what you need to do is extremely important for management to recognize. HISA can help with that.”

McGovern said HISA has contracted with the Lexington, Kentuckybased Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory of Mick Peterson, Ph.D., to do a baseline examination of each track before its racing season begins. Track superintendents in HISA-compliant states are tasked with daily surface reporting and maintenance logs, for which McGovern said they are working on a phone app for convenience.

“We do not want to run your racetrack,” she said. “We do not want to manage your racetrack. We do not want to be track superintendents. However, we want to gather research data … so that you can do the best job you can with the track you’ve been given.”

Hamelback’s message during his address focused on regulations and new track policies piling on in the wake of the high-profile horse deaths this spring not making horses safer but in fact having the opposite result.

“We’re over-regulating at the expense of horsemanship,” he said. “We cannot just make things safer by creating more regulations. If we continue to force regulations more and more and more based on perceptions, that is literally moving horsemanship away from the industry.”

Horsemanship comprises many facets of the industry, including track superintendents and their crews, Hamelback said. He also pushed back against the perspective that “perception is reality,” saying “reality is reality” and that policy changes should make a difference and not simply be window dressing in an attempt to placate detractors.

“What I advocate for is a reality that is based in science and facts and creates good change for the industry,” Hamelback said. “But what is safety? Safety is a condition. It’s not an absolute. … We all know that working and dealing with horses has inherent risks. There are factors in racing that none of us, no matter how good we are at our jobs, can control. Most of us in this room also understand that there are people out there who don’t care about that as a factor. They just want racing gone. But it’s our job to embrace change, move through the journey to make this environment as safe as possible.

“You track supers know this very well, changing conditions [can be hampered by] lack of resources, funding sometimes,” he continued. “We can have engineers tell us exactly what to do, but we can’t always afford it. [Or] we don’t work for a track that wants to give it to us. But this group better start making that demand. … If it’s an extra tractor, an extra conditioner, an extra set of hands, this industry needs it.”

Hamelback said, to truly make change for the better, the industry must “peel the onion back,” layer after layer, looking at everything that can impact horses’ welfare, including going back well before they arrive at a racetrack. He pointed out that the legislation enabling HISA includes breeders as well as racehorse trainers and owners in the definition of a “covered person.”

“And rightly so,” Hamelback said. “If this is an industry initiative, pushed on us by Congress, everybody in the industry ought to be stepping up.”