Business Articles

Rescinding claims - is it time to change the rules?

 Last October, during a regular meeting of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) at then-CHRB chairman John Harris’s Harris Ranch Inn and Restaurant in Coalinga, California, commissioner Bo Derek, the actress and horsewoman, brought up an agenda item that sooner or later will likely have national ramifications. The issues: should long-held claiming rules be changed to void claims when a claimed horse doesn’t finish (DNF) a race or tests positive for prohibited substances?

NYC OTB: The fight for survival

 New York Racing is in poor health, with the New York City off-track betting Corp (NYC OTB) in debt to the tune of more than $230 million. The question of whether it lives or dies will have significant consequences for the entire racing industry in the U.S.

Gambling on Racing’s Future - takeout percentages across the US

 Takeout – the percentage deducted from a mutual pool before it’s paid back to the winners – is the number one concern of horseplayers.

European Exercise Riders in America

The United States is an increasingly popular destination for foreign exercise riders, despite the difficult process of getting a green card.

Weighty Issues - the trials and tribulations of writing conditions for 3 surfaces

Synthetic surfaces and the move towards more weight-for-age races are giving racing secretaries a headache when weighting horses.

The Land of Enchantment - an introduction to New Mexico

Mine That Bird’s victory in the Kentucky Derby confirmed what many already knew – New Mexico produces top quality horses and horsemen.

The Absolute Insurer Rule

“The trainer is responsible for the condition of horses entered in an official workout or race and is responsible for the presence of any prohibited drug, medication or other substance, including permitted medication in excess of the maximum allowable level, in such horses.

The perspective of a North Kentucky-based trainer

As I pull up and park outside of Barn 10 at Turfway Park on a crisp March morning, the temperature is 25 degrees with a wind chill in the low teens. As I go through this routine every day, seven days a week, sometimes I think about how I have more uncertainties than answers.

Simplify Taxes? Keep a record of it!

In racehorse operations, tax treatment is a critical topic. Can an owner continue to maintain a viable stable while sustaining massive losses? The ability to apply the stable operation’s losses to offset tax liability emanating from income derived through the owner’s work, labor, services and other investments is often a determinative factor.
 

Nationalizing the Rulebook - can it be done?

The Autumn 2008 issue of our sister publication European Trainer includes an article on Worldwide Rules, in which Katherine Ford examines European efforts to establish a worldwide ruling system for governing horseracing. When we looked at running the same article in this issue we realized that America had to first look at coordinating their own rules of racing at a national level before joining in the international debate. Frances J. Karon investigates.

Is the Grass Greener? Investigating State Incentive Programs

When lifelong horsemen Nancy and Harvey Vanier were married in 1960, state racing programs were barely in the discussion phase. The concept of millions of dollars allocated specifically to and for horses bred or raced in a particular state was at least a decade away. The closest thing to an Illinois-bred was Nancy herself.

Kentucky Downs - America's only European-style turf course

Working as a groom between his junior and senior years in college, Corey Johnsen wagered his entire week's salary on a horse in his care in hopes of earning his second-semester tuition. Decades later, Johnsen, now president and part owner of Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Kentucky, gambles on the success of a turf-only course accommodating shippers-only with just a six-day annual race meet. Will it be a winner? If uniqueness were a guarantee of success, Kentucky Downs, hard by the Tennessee border, would be a huge overlay. It is billed as the nation's only European-style turf course but General Manager John Goodman modifies this slightly and perhaps best expresses its essence: "It's English racing meets the county fair."

Maryland - can slots solve the problem?

It's come to this. The Maryland racing industry starts and ends at the same place, the same date, the same issue – the voters' booth come November. The slots referendum – the denouement – will decide once and for all whether Maryland will attain slots to help staunch the losses of horses, horsemen and handle to neighboring states.

Federal Intervention in the regulation of steroids in racing

On February 27th, the United States Congressional Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection conducted a day-long hearing on drugs in sports. Discussion of one of the topics, anabolic steroids in horseracing, triggered the typical, knee-jerk reaction by the horseracing industry: heaven help us if there's federal intervention.

Eco Trainers - converting manure to electricity

Trainers at the main French training base, Chantilly, have gone green and are soon to be the envy of their contemporaries around the world with a ground-breaking manure-disposal project. Faced with piles of manure, the bane of all trainers' lives, Chantilly professionals are working together to launch a pioneering scheme which looks set to solve all their problems and at the same time reap both environmental and financial rewards. The 10-million euro project, which should be operational towards the end of 2009, is at the cutting edge of technology and consists of using a process of methanization to convert the waste into electricity which will then be sold to the EDF (French Electricity Board), and into heat which will be used locally.

Hong Kong - Far Eastern racing run by an American

The view in one direction frames an expanse of the endless Hong Kong skyline, in another the emerald Happy Valley Racecourse, but this is unmistakably the working domain of an American. Portraits of Man o' War, Spectacular Bid and presentation photos made after races at Belmont Park, Aqueduct and Saratoga decorate the walls, the occupant standing beside Orientate, Sulamani and Funny Cide.

Global Superbet -can it take horseracing to a bigger stage?

Twenty-five years ago John R. Gaines in Kentucky came up with an idea: the Breeders' Cup series. Gaines felt that Thoroughbred racing needed a high profile day, which would make it possible for the sport to compete with NFL, NHL and NBA in the media picture. Everyone involved in racing agreed, just as much as they agreed that Thoroughbred breeding and racing needed new innovations, offering opportunities for more international competition with chances of winning bigger purses. Has it worked? Partly, and the Breeders' Cup has most certainly been more a star actor than just another face to the stage.

Who is Controlling Racing's TV Signals?

For all the differences between the horseracing and betting landscapes in Britain and North America - size, history, administration and race and bet types, - one similarity of principle has emerged over the last five years. The live televised racing scene has crystallised into two entities, and the impact on both the foundation and prosperity of the sport and the availability of its betting facilities has been thrown into the blender.

Are purses restraining growth?

In 1953, the average cost of a Cola drink at a U.S. racetrack was around ten cents; the minimum bet on a race, two dollars. In 2007 the average cost of a Cola drink at a U.S. racetrack is around a dollar seventy-five; the cost of a bet, in most places, still two dollars.

The Asian Racing Conference – from a trainer’s perspective

Attending industry conferences and seminars, especially those staged overseas, as a media reporter can be hard work – honestly! – but when you come across speakers at the top of their game, who can put over concise points in layman’s language, the tedium of long days, and sometimes even longer nights, wafts away on a breeze of simple understanding.

The future structure of New York racing

The New York Racing Association’s 51-year reign on Thoroughbred racing at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, Belmont Park in Elmont, Long Island, and Saratoga Race Course is nearing an end.

Maybe.