Following in Their Footsteps: Lessons in Business & Training Passed Between Generations

The story of horse racing is one of families. Usually, the conversations focus on the equine kind, sires and dams, and what the generations listed in each horse’s pedigrees bring to the athletes at the center of the sport. The human side of racing too features the age-old tale of family legacies as knowledge and experience gained by one inspires the next to join the fray. 

Whether the name is Hirsch or Veitch, Bryant or Casse or Mandella, the training side of the sport has its share of families passing both knowledge and experience down to the next generation. Summers spent mucking stalls and caring for horses allow parents to share hard-earned expertise with their children, and, in turn, move them to follow in their footsteps. Their journeys to striking out on their own may mirror the ones the previous generation undertook, but the challenges that each face are ones that reflect the changing times within the sport.

The Mandellas 

As the son of a blacksmith, Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella grew up with horses, seemingly destined to make his life about their care and training. He assisted his father Gene on their California ranch and learned to break and ride horses from an early age. Dreams of being a jockey turned into time in the saddle as an exercise rider and then years in the barn as a trainer, finding success with horses like Dare and Go, Kotashaan, Omaha Beach, and Beholder. When it came to his two children following in his footsteps, the California-based Mandella, who has been training for nearly five decades, found son Gary eager to join the family business, but the fatherly side of the Hall of Famer tried to dissuade his son from going that route. 

“We were walking out to the parking lot one day, and I asked him, ‘What are you going to do when you finish school?’ And he looked at me and said, ‘I’m going to do what you do, Dad,’” Mandella shared. “I couldn't chase him away. I wanted him to get a real job. He didn't like the idea and worked for me.”

Gary, on the other hand, followed through with his father’s request that he go to college and even tried broadcasting for a time. “I feel very fortunate that people tried to open my eyes to remind me what else was out there, that I could look into something else and try this, try that,” the younger Mandella reflected. “But I knew before I turned 16, that it was going to be hard to get away from [training].” 

His foresight about that career choice came from years growing up with horses right outside his window. The family had a small farm where his dad would send horses for some downtime, meaning that the younger Mandellas were working with and caring for these athletes from their earliest years. “I woke up, and every window that I looked out of my bedroom, I saw horses,” he remembered. “Just helping take care of them there and having the opportunity to be around them all the time made [me] want to be a part of that.”

Those experiences working with his dad and his horses on their family property as well as on the racetrack brought Gary Mandella the background he would need when he decided that a trainer’s life was for him. “My father’s always been more of a lead by example than make a big speech kind,” the younger trainer observed. “He showed me, expected me to pay attention, and was always clear about what the priorities should be.” 

The Bryants

George Bryant started his career in the saddle, riding Quarter Horses for more than a decade, but, when age spelled the end of that career, he parlayed his lifetime with horses into training. Based in Texas, he worked first with Quarter Qorses and later Thoroughbreds, retiring in 2021 as son George Allan Bryant faced a fight for his life. 

Diagnosed with stage four oral cancer, the younger Bryant battled through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, coming out of the experience determined to follow through with his goal of becoming a trainer like his father. He had delayed starting his career until the elder Bryant stepped away, instead working as a racing manager for HDT Allied Management, hosting the Horse Racing Destination podcast, and serving as a member of the Texas Thoroughbred Association.

His decision to open his public stable and start his training career was a long overdue one in the eyes of the elder Bryant: “He’s been ready for quite a while now, [but] it was up to him to make the decision. He really didn’t want to go into training until after I retired.” 

“I didn’t want to compete with him,” George Allan Bryant shared about his decision to defer his training career. Though he did not start his own stable until 2022, the younger man watched and learned from his father, always accompanying the elder Bryant to the barn and riding horses at an early age. This hands-on education prepared the younger Bryant so well that he passed his trainer’s license test on the first try, and then got on social media to share that he was ready to open his stable. He got his first client, Mike Powers, not too long after that. 

Now, his barn at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston counts 20 horses, with the elder Bryant by his son’s side as his assistant, building on the determination that got him through his fight with cancer and pushing him forward. 

The Casses

Mark Casse’s own roots in racing come from his father Norman, one of the founders of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company whose Cardinal Hill Farm in Marion County, Florida, gave Mark hands-on time with horses from his earliest years. As a 12-year-old boy, the future Hall of Famer accompanied his father to the 1973 Kentucky Derby and decided to become a trainer after watching Secretariat’s record-breaking performance. It was during those formative years that he learned what it took to become a trainer.

“You learn from many places. I was running my dad’s training barn when I was 15,” Casse recalled. “I learned from grooms, from hot walkers, from exercise riders. You learn because you love it.”

In 1979, six years after that fateful encounter with Secretariat, Casse got his first win at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky, and his first stakes win at Sportsman’s Park near Chicago at just 18 years old; but success at the highest level was still to come. In the late 1990s, he moved his base to Woodbine in Toronto, Ontario, and added racing north of the border to his resume. In the meantime, his oldest son Norm was growing up surrounded by family in the sport, with both of his grandfathers and then his father all involved. But his love came more from his childhood in Louisville, Kentucky, growing up with all things Derby. 

“I just fell in love with horse racing just because I was here and how much the Derby meant to the community,” Casse shared. Much like his dad, Mark’s encounter with Secretariat, Smarty Jones’s Triple Crown run in 2004 spurred the younger Casse’s desire to become part of the sport: “There was just something about that horse in particular that just really excited me, and it was [then] that I decided that’s what I wanted to do.”  

The younger Casse was in his early 20s when Smarty Jones came into his life, playing baseball at Bellarmine University with an eye on what was next: “I figured that I wasn’t going to be good enough to be professional by any means, but I always thought maybe I would be a coach.” After graduating from Bellarmine, Norm joined his dad’s stable in 2006, getting an in-depth education about training horses after years where his focus had been outside of racing. 

“I was behind the eight ball when I first started,” Norm observed. “The intention was always going out on my own, but I knew it was going to take at least 10–12 years before I was going to be comfortable and ready.” Before he went out on his own in 2018, the younger trainer managed strings at American racetracks like Saratoga and Keeneland while the elder Casse focused on his Canadian stable—experience that mitigated the growing pains other trainers face when starting their own stables. 

With his first Kentucky Oaks starter, Southlawn in 2023, Norm Casse continues to build on the lessons learned working with his Hall of Fame father and finding success in his own program with horses like Pretty Birdie and Rhyme Schemes in his barn.   

The Challenges of the Business and Sport

For the Mandellas in California, the challenges are two-fold. A declining population of horses and the rising costs of maintaining a stable make that circuit a tough place to race. “There’s just [not] near the number of stables here as there used to be,” the elder Mandella observed. He let Gary know that the option to leave California and train elsewhere was there, but “[Gary] decided to stay put.” 

According to the younger Mandella, the purse money that tracks in California have to offer has not kept pace with what tracks backed by casinos have to offer. Because of that, plus the higher cost of living in the state, the circuit lacks a middle. The state’s racing scene is still strong at the top, as evidenced by the success of West Coast horses coming east, but the inflated prices of real estate and feed make it harder to maintain a barn of allowance and claiming horses. 

The younger Mandella has his own stable but shares a barn with his father as well. The two work together, as the Hall of Famer has scaled back his operation, happy to have his son on hand to help guide both stables through the implementation of HISA (Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority) regulations and the growing dependence on technology. “I’m lucky I have had this barn for 49 years, and I’ve got some great people that work for me,” the elder Mandella shared. “Having him along with it makes it possible for me to get through all of this new stuff.” 

Technology makes it easier to communicate with owners and to work with larger ownership groups like My Racehorse, which the Mandella barn has found success with; but it also opens up another set of challenges for the sport. As Mark Casse pointed out, social media has made sharing information, like win percentages, easier, which can be a double-edged sword. 

“Everybody wants you to win at a high percentage, and that’s a challenge; and then any little move, any little thing that goes wrong or right shows up on social media, which is tough,” he observed. 

Additionally, social media has also led to continued scrutiny from many different directions, especially in light of the recent charges against Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis. “It’s the reason why I have pushed so hard for HISA,” Casse shared. “I want my kids who choose to make this their business to be able to do the right thing and to be on a level playing field.” 

For the father-son Bryant team, the biggest difference between starting in the 1980s and in the 2020s is the cost of labor, supplies, and the horses themselves. “It’s gotten to be pretty expensive,” the elder Bryant observed. “When I started, a bale of hay was probably $1.50, and now it’s $20.”

To succeed, “you got to be pretty business smart, and you have to have owners that pay you good,” he said, a sentiment echoed by Gary Mandella. 

“This is one of the few businesses where you post bills for services rendered as opposed to pre-billing,” the trainer observed. “When you’re operating with a high overhead, it can be stressful. You have to manage that stress so that you’re just taking the horses in consideration as individuals.” 

Balancing the needs of the horses with the needs of the business remains a vital part of the job of horse trainer. While each considers what their horses need, they also need to look beyond the day-to-day care and maintenance to the evolving issues of bringing both new owners and new horses to their barns.

The Search for the Next Big Thing 

High up on the list of challenges for trainers is bringing in both new owners and new horses to their barns. The advent of social media as well as the rise of partnerships and microshare syndicates means that the way that the sport conducts business has changed and the men and women who make their living in it must adapt as well. While the opportunities to work as a private trainer for one or two owners may be fewer, these father-son tandems must navigate the continuing evolution in both recruiting owners and finding horses to train. 

For George Allan Bryant, social media has allowed him to reach potential owners in ways that his father could not in earlier decades and has enabled his nascent barn to grow. “I can advertise my horses and business much easier,” the younger Bryant shared. 

Hall of Famer Mark Casse has also seen a change in this era of instantaneous communication. Over his 40-year career, he primarily relied on phone calls to keep his clients informed, yet the 21st century has taken the phone to a new level. “The way we communicate now is much different. Now I would say that 95% of owners get updates when their horses work or when they run,” he observed. “I get a lot of texts and emails and those kinds of things. I still have lots of phone calls, but it has definitely changed.”

Alongside the changes in how owners access information about their horses and potential trainers, the rise of syndicates like MyRacehorse and Commonwealth, both of whom boast Kentucky Derby winners in Authentic and Mage, has changed the sport, opening up opportunities for more people to get involved in owning horses, but also helping to mitigate the rising costs of owning and training horses. That also leaves racing with two distinct groups calling the shots.  

“I feel like the game right now is moving toward you can either afford to have all of your horses yourself and call all of your own shots, or you need to be a part of a big partnership where there’s truly no stress; you bought your piece, and everybody else handles everything,” Gary Mandella shared. “They tell you where to be, where to show up, and you can either make it or not. It’s all handled.”

Though such new approaches to ownership open the sport up to people who might not have been able to participate otherwise, it does lead to one trend that has troubled the sport over the last three decades as the majority of the sport’s highest earners tend to be in the barns of only a few. 

As the younger Mandella pointed out, “Part of the selling point of these big syndicates is you can’t get in with Bob Baffert if you buy a horse yourself for $20,000 as a yearling; but if you spend $20,000 on share of more expensive horses, then you get access to Baffert or Brad Cox or Todd Pletcher. And again, now too many of the horses are in the hands of too few, and that hurts.” 

For the elder Casse, these ownership groups bring a definite upside to the sport: “It would be my opinion that syndicates have introduced many people to our sport. As things go on, some of them feel the need to go ahead and branch out and do a little bit more on their own. I think they’re great for our sport. 

“There’s so much to learn about our sport, and if you try to get into it on your own, it’s very difficult. But those syndicates are good for learning.” 

In the case of the elder Mandella, working with MyRacehorse has streamlined his responsibilities, allowing him to step away from attending sales and focus more on selecting the horses he will train. “The owners all tend to have bloodstock agents and managers now,” Mandella shared. “I try to not interfere with that and just hope they send me some horses.” 

Syndicates like MyRacehorse will bring Mandella and other trainers out to their bases in areas like Aiken, South Carolina, and allow each to select the horses they would like to train. In the case of the younger Bryant, he even started his own syndicate, Passion Racing, to offer potential owners the chance to invest in horses he trains. He also works with his owners like Adam Blick of Blick Racing, attending sales and offering his feedback on potential runners. 

For trainer Norm Casse, his focus is on the two types of clients he works with, those who buy from the sales and those who claim horses. When it comes to buying horses, “I have professionals that represent me at the sales to find new horses, and I trust their opinions.” On the other hand, he is more involved with the selection of the horses he claims. “I have certain types of horses that I like, and looking at past performances, I can decide which horses would be successful in our program,” he shared. “I like claiming horses using common sense, and it’s really as simple as that.” 

When it comes to adding clients and horses to their barns, the elder Casse has not seen as much of a change in recent years. Rather than actively recruiting, “I think most trainers just let the results speak for themselves and hope that owners will come,” he said. “There’s so much more information out there for people to gather, but you still get a lot of recommendations from other owners.”

Instead, he makes the best of the sales, working with clients like Charlotte Weber of Live Oak Stud to pick out potential racers. “I like it because if I don’t do a good job, get good horses, the only one to answer to or be upset with is myself,” the long-time conditioner shared. “I enjoy picking out horses, and I have a real good memory of the horses I’ve trained; and I try to duplicate that.” 

What the current trends in ownership and horse selection create is a challenging environment for the sport as a whole, where success at the top levels mirrors what’s happening in other sports. As the younger Mandella observes, “One  of the great selling points of horse racing is that it is truly the only major sport where you can try to win a championship without spending the most money. There’s such a strong concept in baseball, basketball, football and hockey, where somebody comes in and either increases their budget or buys a team and changes the concept.” 

“None of these sports have a story like California Chrome or Real Quiet or Sunday Silence—horses that were bought for so little money and were able to take down horses that were seven figures and owned by some of the richest people in the world. Where else can you partake in that?”

Echoing his son’s thoughts, Richard Mandella sees a need for racing to restore a balance between the business and the sport: “that part needs to be addressed and always paid attention to so that we don’t get too far to the business side and get too cold about it. This is meant to be an escape for people in real life working in offices, running businesses, and having all of those headaches. Racing is supposed to be a way to get your mind on something else and have some fun.” 

“The better we can make the sport look, the more chance we’re going to get people to come here,” he observed. 

The evolution of the sport in the era of social media and syndication add new demands to their jobs, but these father-son tandems remain committed to the sport they have loved from their earliest days. Though the pressures of training these equine athletes and maintaining the business side of the game may test these conditioners, they are all open to the idea of their own children deciding to join their ranks. 

Advice for the the next generation

George Allan Bryant’s advice is to stay on top of the bills and expenses that come with caring for these athletes and maintaining the communication necessary to work with the owners. “You’ve got to take care of your bills,” he observed. “But this is also a people business as much as it is a horse business. Your phone is always on.” 

Norm Casse too echoed that aspect of the job: “The main thing I learned is how to deal with clients and owners. I never have a problem communicating with the owner because my whole life, I’ve been listening to somebody do it.” With apps like The Racing Manager, Casse and other trainers can quickly communicate with everyone associated with a horse, another avenue for keeping their clients in the know as their horses develop and progress. 

For Mandella, the key to bringing in a new generation to the training business would be to show his son the ropes much as his father did. “I would warn him that this is a business that has economic risks to jump into for sure,” he said. “But also, I would give him as much support as I possibly could.” 

At the center of all six trainers’ time on the track are the equine athletes that make the demanding schedules and daily stresses worthwhile. For all three families, the focus remains on the horses and their care and development, all seeking not just success on the racetrack but the connection with the animals in their care.

“You’ve got to really know your horses and pay attention to all of the little things,” George Bryant shared. “Take excellent care of your horses. The better care you take of them, the healthier they’ll be and the faster they’ll run for you.” 

Why HISA matters - A farrier's perspective

Article by Mark Hickcox CF

I wrote the following article titled “Why HISA Matters” for the February/March 2023 issue of No Foot, No Horse, the American Farrier’s Association newsletter magazine. This is one farrier’s perspective of HISA shoeing regulations written to other farriers. The majority of AFA members do not plate racehorses exclusively, but might hear about HISA horseshoe regulations and have questions regarding the effect on the farrier industry. The raceplater farriers are well aware of the effects and confusion surrounding HISA shoeing regulations and are doing their best to stay up to date with the track-specific rules and enforcement that are vastly differing from state to state. Track stewards and paddock blacksmiths have been given no HISA-specific measurement training, updated enforcement guidelines, or detailed specifications other than the non-enforcement on dirt announcement on July 29, 2022. 

Farrier industry or racetrack jargon regarding traction devices and shoe modifications can be confusing and subjective even among a group of farriers. Here’s the scenario: HISA and a group of horsemen are making a decision on a toe grab length that may vary less than the thickness of a dime, based on studies that have never been conducted because the shoe to test this toe grab hasn’t been manufactured, nor can they recognize a front shoe from a hind shoe, this does not set them up for success. The farrier industry is willing to be the experts in the room for such an occasion but weren’t invited for a collective comment until the regulations were well over 6 months old.

In 2023, it seems that HISA has bigger fish to fry, and legal rulings will take precedence over a horseshoe regulation specifications guide or clarification of the process of enforcement, in general. So, when will we see the non-enforcement announcement rescinded? We don’t know. Will the farrier industry be consulted in advance of the next decision to make sure that the shoes being specified will exist this time? We don’t know. Who, what, when, where, and how will enforcement happen at each racetrack and training facility? We don’t know. Are the rumors of new types of injuries due to a lack of traction? We don’t know. 

I have to believe that HISA administration will decide that they should speak with and listen to the Farrier Industry Association; the members include: the farriers, the companies that make the horseshoes, and the supply houses that stock and sell them to the farriers. After all, the title of the AFA magazine should remind them that it’s No Foot, No Horse.

WHY HISA MATTERS

You may have heard from a raceplater friend or seen a post somewhere about new shoeing regulations for Thoroughbred horse racing in the U.S. Most farriers would say it doesn’t affect them because they don’t work on race horses. True, the new law won’t change how most farriers shoe horses today. The new law may have a far greater reach however, by introducing government regulations to farriers and the farrier industry.

United States farriers are a pretty self-regulating bunch of individuals historically. Our education, certification, and proficiency under the horse are not something that is mandated to be a farrier. Whether it’s your full-time career or a skill that you possess to make some extra money, your business is your business. Other countries have laws that govern farriery, and you cannot apply a device to a horse’s hoof without attaining qualified farrier credentials. These regulations are always created for protecting horse welfare and come with a price for someone seeking qualified farrier status. This article is not meant to argue the merits of qualification, certification, education, continuing education, etc. Opinions vary, and agreement is not necessary in regards to HISA, but HISA is a law that does reach into the farrier industry nonetheless.

HISA is the acronym for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, and it was created when the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act was signed into law in 2020.

“HISA is responsible for drafting and enforcing uniform safety and integrity rules in thoroughbred racing in the U.S. Overseen by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), HISA was created to implement, for the first time, a national, uniform set of rules applicable to every thoroughbred racing participant and racetrack facility. HISA is comprised of two programs: the Racetrack Safety Program, which goes into effect July 1, 2022, and the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program, which will go into effect in January 2023.” 

“The Racetrack Safety Program includes operational safety rules and national racetrack accreditation standards that seek to enhance equine welfare and minimize equine and jockey injury. The Program will expand veterinary oversight, impose surface maintenance and testing requirements, enhance jockey safety, regulate riding crop use, and implement voided claim rules, among other important measures.”

Most often, horseshoers are the first to notice an issue with a horse’s health that may need veterinary intervention. We are horse men and women that care about an animal’s well-being when they are in our care. We can be held liable for issues related to our services and can keep horse owners up to date with best practices regarding the care of their horse. The service that farriers provide can be life changing, with regard to soundness, and life-saving, with regard to lameness, in many instances. This role is sometimes overlooked by the outside world because we “just shoe horses.” Our products and services can be lumped into a commodity purchase of goods and a service.

Unfortunately for HISA, implementation of the new shoeing regulation has demonstrated that the farrier industry (as a whole) is large, diverse, and multi-faceted just like other industries in our country. We have farriers as the end-user of products purchased from suppliers that are manufactured around the world by many companies that specialize in highly engineered pieces of steel and aluminum. Manufacturing processes require months of planning for raw materials, energy, transportation, labor, packaging, and distribution before a product gets on a supplier’s shelf—in all sizes and shapes necessary. This meant that a shoeing regulation approved by the Federal Trade Commission on March 4, 2022, that affects all racing or training Thoroughbred race horses in the U.S. on July 1, 2022, was idealistic at best. I’m sure that when it was published in the Federal Register on January 5, 2022, it seemed pretty simple.

2276. Horseshoes

(a) Except for full rims 2 millimeters or less from the ground surface of the Horseshoe, traction devices are prohibited on forelimb and hindlimb Horseshoes during racing and training on dirt or synthetic racing tracks.

(b) Traction devices are prohibited on forelimb and hindlimb Horseshoes

(c) Traction devices include but are not limited to rims, toe grabs, bends, jar calks and stickers.

Again, I know that a lot of farriers don’t shoe racehorses. This law will not affect how you shoe horses today, but then I read the following in this magazine:

“Purportedly, bar shoes, pads, glue on shoes, quarter crack patches may only be applied by a covered veterinarian. Those official regulations, however, will come in another phase of the bill.”

This is why we should all care. If the government can pass and implement a law that defines what we can nail on a horse’s hoof in any discipline of equine competition, then it can do it in all of them. This isn’t alarmist rhetoric to start fights or anarchy; it is information to attempt to protect our whole industry: manufacturers, suppliers and farriers. HISA still has legal challenges to clear, enforcement issues to fix, and a newly formed horsemen’s advisory council to blend into the decision-making process. Farriers and other farrier industry professionals should be consulted moving forward because our connection to elite equine athletes is often understated but cannot be ignored. Remember, a lot of folks think that it’s “just shoeing horses.” 

How do I stay informed/get involved?

• Keep advocating for our industry as a small business owner in your community: Chamber of Commerce member, high school trade fair booth, 4-H or pony club demonstration, equine emergency services volunteer, ag community organizations, etc. Remember, your business is your business!

• Stay involved in farrier industry organizations: clinics, contests, certifications, trade shows, supplier’s open house, hammer-ins, virtual education opportunities

• Be aware of industry changes/regulations: multi-discipline knowledge, state laws, federal laws, litigation affecting our industry, new products/technology

• Grass roots activism: Write an email or a letter to political leaders, start a  hoofcare education group for horse owners, improve farrier/vet relations in your coverage area, write an article, publish a yearly farrier newsletter for your clients. 

• Ride-along days: “The hardest door to open is the passenger side of someone else’s farrier truck.”

• Spend one day at a farrier school: Explaining how you do something is a great way to re-evaluate your own work process.

Did you know?

1. The American Farrier’s Association is a member of the American Horse Council. AHC is the only organization that represents the entire horse industry in Washington, DC.

2. The American Veterinary Medical Association spent over $860,000 per year since 2017 as their total lobbying expenditure and had 15 paid lobbyists in 2022.

3. Only 5% of U.S. veterinarians practice on large animals.

4. In 1978, Ada Gates became the first female farrier to become licensed to shoe Thoroughbred racehorses in the U.S. and Canada.

5. The International Union of Journeyman Horseshoers (IUJH) was established in the U.S. in 1874 (also known as the Heavy Horse Union).

6. If you Google “horseshoe regulations,” all results on the first page are about the game.

Redevelop, Revitalize and Revise

Words - Bill Heller

Gulfstream Park

Can racetracks prosper or even survive without redevelopment and/or revitalization? Must they become year-round attractions or even destination venues? Tracks have tried adding casinos, concerts, hotels, retail stores and even a village—all with a hope of increasing the handle that generates purses.

Yet several of North America’s most storied racetracks have closed their doors forever: Hollywood Park, Arlington Park, Calder Race Course, and, in the not-too-distant future, Aqueduct Racetrack.

“I think the product has to evolve,” David O’Rourke, CEO and president of the New York Racing Association, said. “Every situation is unique.”

His sure is. He’s taken on razing and rebuilding Belmont Park and closing Aqueduct. He’s also carefully tinkered with the historic Saratoga Race Course.

Woodbine, which launched a 25-year ambitious project in Toronto in March 2022, is already showing dramatic increases.

Churchill Downs has already spent millions improving its facility, so has Oaklawn Park and Kentucky Downs.

Frank Stronach was first, envisioning a very different Gulfstream Park more than 20 years ago. His 1/ST also operates Santa Anita, Laurel Park, Pimlico Racetrack, Golden Gate Fields and Rosecroft, a harness track in Maryland. 1/ST acquired Gulfstream Park in September 1999, for $95 million.

It didn’t take Stronach long to reach a conclusion about Gulfstream.

“We don’t get enough customers,” Stronach told Andy Beyer in his Washington Post column on February 7, 2001. “We don’t get a lot of young people. Something isn’t right. That’s why you’ve got to change. I like horses a lot—really a lot. But even I get bored sitting a whole afternoon. If I’m interested in the second race and the seventh race, maybe between them, I want to get a haircut or do some shopping.”

Beyer concluded 22 years ago: “Of course, it’s easy to find fault with any new ideas. But at the very least, Stronach deserves credit for trying hard (and investing confidently) to resuscitate the game he loves. If he fails, he will fail because the world has changed and there is no possible way to bring back the old days of grandeur and glory. But all racing fans would love to see him succeed, to see a day when Gulfstream is packed with young patrons sipping cappuccino by the paddock.”

Has that happened?

Gulfstream Park’s Carousel Club.

Actually, yes. Patrons at the adjacent Yard House, one of the dozens of restaurants in the Gulfstream Park Villages, can dine just outside the paddock. Whether they have come from the racetrack or will go to the racetrack after they dine is hard to tell, but at least that part of Stronach’s vision has come true.

Stronach used the mythological Pegasus to stamp Gulfstream Park with a new signature race, the Pegasus World Cup, and an enormous statue of Pegasus vanquishing a dragon is nothing less than stunning, At 110 feet, Pegasus is the second tallest statue in the continental U.S., topped only by the Statue of Liberty. The statue, which was pre-cast and shipped from China in 23 packing containers and steel beams shipped from Germany, cost $30 million.

Located adjacent to multiple parking lots separating the track and the backstretch, Pegasus guards the track. Inside the track, there is a casino on two floors, a large splashy simulcast room, two restaurants and offices. Outside, the village of retail stores is separated by the paddock and a normal-size statue of Cigar.

The Gulfstream Park Villages, which formally opened on February 11, 2000, consists of nine one- and two-story buildings spread over 400,000 square feet. offering shopping, dining, live events and booked events. There are seven fashion shops, three specialty stores, three art galleries, 11 home furnishing and houseware outlets, and four health and beauty salons. There are 36 dining options including fine dining, casual dining, quick bites, trackside eats, bars and lounges. Events occur every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Marquis events include concerts. Events for the public include weddings, parties, meetings, suites and boxes, film setting and concert rentals.

All that’s lovely, but has it enhanced Gulfstream Park’s horse race meet, now year-round with the closing of Calder Race Course? It’s tough to tell if the vast amenities have created new racing fans. “There is no way to tell,” Gulfstream Park Executive Director and Vice President Billy Badgett said.

Handle numbers, which are tough to evaluate because of the two-year pandemic, have changed little the past year and a half.

Oaklawn Park is the shining example of racetracks changing, growing and increasing handle since it completed a $100 million expansion in 2021.

In its 2022–2023 68-day meet from December to May, Oaklawn’s average daily handle was $6.67 million, up from $6.23 million for its 66-day meet when December dates were first added last year. Purses averaged more than $700,000 daily.

Those weren’t the only good numbers. “Everything was up,” said Oaklawn Park President Lou Cella, whose family has owned Oaklawn for some 120 years. Both on-track and off-track handle were up. And it’s allowed Oaklawn Park to raise purses for its 2023–2024 meet beginning in December. Cella said maiden special weights will go for $115,000, allowance races for $140,000, and stakes race minimum $150,000. 

Oaklawn Park held four Kentucky Derby point-standing stakes races topped by the $1.25 million Arkansas Derby. “We’re going to raise every one of our three-year-old stakes, and the 2024 Arkansas Derby will go for $1.5 million,” Cella revealed.

Though Oaklawn Park stopped issuing attendance figures when it stopped charging for admission some 15 years ago, attendance on Saturdays during the meet ranged from 25,000 to 35,000 despite many rainy Saturday afternoons. The Arkansas Derby drew an estimated 65,000. “Once we got into gaming, it was hard to charge for racing because we weren’t charging for gaming,” Oaklawn Park Senior Vice President Eric Jackson said.

Business was also booming in the claim box as 556 claims were made for a cumulative $10.6 million.

Continuing to experiment, Oaklawn Park held its second annual Hall of Fame Day, featuring 19 members of the Hall. Donations of $2,500 were given to each Hall of Famer’s favorite charity.

Oaklawn Park gained momentum through its highly popular instant racing slot-like machines and kept adding amenities, including a hotel with a dynamic view of the entire stretch. Several restaurants are also available to patrons.

“We feel like we’re pioneers getting racing and casinos working together,” Jackson said. “The numbers are terrific. The model is working.”   

To be sure, Oaklawn Park is sweetening the deal for trainers and owners that began last year. Trainers and owners who have a starter during the final two weeks of the meet will receive daily bonuses of $200 a day and $400 a day, respectively. “They were designed to help the smaller trainer,” Cella said. “Last year, our average number of starters the final two weeks were 9 to 9.5.”

The Woodbine community plan

Woodbine’s numbers have rocketed up since the inception of its bold 25-year Woodbine Community Plan last year to literally become part of the Toronto community. Initial returns have been huge. Woodbine set a record for handle for the 2022 Thoroughbred meeting at $621 million, a dramatic increase from the previous record: $533 million in 2018. Last year was  the first year since 2019 that Woodbine held its complete Thoroughbred season after the pandemic.

Woodbine’s surge came after CEO Jim Lawson helped secure a historic funding agreement with the Ontario government in 2019 that allots up to $105 million annually to breeders, owners and trainers through 2038. 

Lawson said in a Woodbine statement in late December, “At the start of the pandemic, I felt that through determination and resiliency, which is the trademark of this industry, we would emerge stronger; and this record is evidence we are on the right track.”

That track includes railroad tracks. A train station is one of the many aspects of the Woodbine Community Plan. “We don’t have a good rail service here,” Lawson said in June, 2023. “We want to bring in a train station.”

Woodbine can do that because it encompasses 683 acres. “Only 240 is for the track,” Lawson said. “That leaves about 400 acres developmentable. We will make two large residential units with 30,000 housing units on this site. We will be able to make a lot of those people fans of horse racing.”

What Woodbine is doing is changing the game. Instead of bringing fans to the racetrack, these people will already be a short walk away from the track. “It will be a really cool place,” Lawson said. “It will take 10 to 15 years. This is my vision. It’ll be a vibrant community. There’ll be so much going on here. They can walk to places. The sky’s the limit. We’re talking about 12 to 14 million visitors to this site by 2025. That’s about double what we have now.

Woodbine CEO Jim Lawson

“We’ve got a 5,000-seat music auditorium opening in August that can be used for conferences as well. We hope to open a retail sports book later this year overlooking the track. It’s up to us to make sure they’re also betting on horse racing. We hope to have a FIFA World Cup in 2026.”

Woodbine already has The Stella Artois Terrace, a 300-seat patio and live music at the finish line that opened last summer. “It’s been successful,” Lawson said. “It’s hard to get a reservation there. We boast our food is as good as a restaurant. It’s bringing out new fans. There’s no admission charge. No parking charge. We want people to just watch racing.”

Woodbine will open a multi-story hotel trackside on its stretch in August.

Lawson—who also co-owns the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Canadian Football League, the same team his father led to the 1945 Grey Cup and the Canadian equivalent of the Super Bowl when they were the Hamilton Wildcats—believes in the sport of horse racing: “I’m a firm believer that you need to get people out to the racetrack to experience the horses, experiences the jockeys. It is important for horse racing to sell that game-day experience to get people out here to see the sport.”

To that end, Lawson is proud of Woodbine’s broadcast team of 54 people. “We have 2,000 people working here and another 3,000 on the backstretch,” Lawson said.

They will be direct beneficiaries of Woodbine’s brave new world. “It’ll be a vibrant community,” Lawson said. “It’ll be a cool place. It will take 10 to 15 years with horse racing sitting in the center of it all. It’s a major transformation of the site. It will take a few years, but it will sustain horse racing for generations.”

Belmont Park has already started a major transformation of its site. That happened when the New York Islanders decided to build a new, 17,500-seat, multi-purpose arena on the Belmont Park grounds. Opened in 2021, the USB Arena has been aptly nicknamed by fans and writers as “The Stable.”

That was an appetizer. On April 30 this year, New York State Governor Kathy Hochull and the State Senate and Assembly passed The Revenue Article VII Bill, which authorized NYRA to utilize a $450 million loan to build new facilities. 

The redevelopment, the first major one at Belmont Park since 1968, will ultimately allow NYRA to end racing at Aqueduct and finally bring the Breeders’ Cup back to New York for the first time since 2005. Last November, the Breeders’ Cup announced a commitment to include Belmont Park as part of its rotation of host tracks, which include Santa Anita, Del Mar, Churchill Downs and Keeneland.

Belmont’s 28-day 2023 fall meet will be held at Aqueduct from September 14 through October 29. Following the Aqueduct winter meet, Belmont will run its 2024 spring/summer meet. The grandstand/clubhouse will be demolished after that meet. NYRA plans and hopes to have the new Belmont Park ready to hold the 2026 Belmont Stakes.

The backdrop for that historic return of the Breeders’ Cup will be completely foreign to fans accustomed to seeing Belmont’s enormous grandstand. The current grandstand and clubhouse will be razed and replaced by one a quarter of its size. “To have a healthy market, the building is a component,” O’Rourke said.

In recent years, the look of few people at the enormous facility isn’t a healthy one. O’Brien is hoping to fix that.

NYRA CEO David O’ROUrKE

O’Rourke will forever be known as the man who changed or saved Belmont Park. His background is in finance, not horses. Growing up in New Jersey, two miles from The Meadowlands, he occasionally visited that track and Monmouth Park. “It would be generous to call me a casual fan,” he said. “My first real exposure to racing was at Aqueduct.”

O’Rourke graduated from Richard Stockton College and got an MBA at Tulane University. He worked for Zolfo Cooper and Capstone Advisory Group Corporate Restructuring Practices and was vice-president of operations at Datek Online.

O’Rourke, now 49, joined NYRA as director of financial planning in 2008. Two years later, he became vice president for corporate development. In 2013, he was appointed chief revenue officer and senior vice president. NYRA  named him interim CEO on January 23, 2019, and appointed CEO and President on March 26, 2019.

“I was on the building development side,” O’Rourke said. “When I came in, another executive came in, Glenn Kozak. He’s the track guy. For me, it was business.”

He began his NYRA career at a challenging time. “We had just come out of bankruptcy in ’08,” he said. He believed his lack of experience in racing was an asset: “It gave me an advantage. It was my first look at it. It was fresh. I noticed how fractured horse racing is. The one thing that stood out to me was you could wager on-line in 2008. It was only chance to wager on-line.”

Subsequently, he has been pivotal in developing NYRA Bets, NYRA’s national advance deposit wagering (ADW) platform and expanding NYRA’s national television coverage, which resulted in daily coverage of Belmont Park and Saratoga’s meets via Fox Sports. He is proud of both: “I just saw the potential. We launched NYRA Bets nationally and worked out a deal with Fox. We self-produce 1,000 hours for Fox. We fixed the business, and that gave us credibility.”

He also came to a conclusion about NYRA racing: “NYRA had an extreme challenge downstate operating two tracks. It was obvious to NYRA to reconsolidate. How do you do that? In 2019, we began work analyzing Belmont. Then COVID hit.”

That didn’t alter O’Rourke’s conclusion. Belmont Park needed a facelift, especially if it was to operate year-round with Aqueduct closing. “Belmont itself was a massive warehouse,” O’Rourke said. “Right after it was renovated, OTB opened.”

Yet Belmont Park staged a tremendous Belmont Stakes in 2004, when 120,000 fans—the most to ever see a sporting event in New York State’s history—witnessed Birdstone’s late-running victory to deny undefeated Smarty Jones the Triple Crown. 

“The building is impressive in scale but didn’t have the amenities people wanted,” O’Rourke said. “People are looking for clubs, more intimate settings. It’s changing from 1.3 million square feet with zero suites to 275,000 square feet with suites, dining and hospitality at a very high level. We’re going to shrink the building and open up acres of green space on the track side, bring the park back to Belmont and allow families to come in. What’s special about Belmont are the trees, the iconic arches. We have a lot of freedom, a lot of land. I think Belmont is going to look different, more New York City than a country fair like Saratoga.”

Specifically, Belmont is adding a one-mile synthetic track inside the inner turf course due to open at the start of the 2024 meet and a tunnel to the infield allowing fans to watch races from there. Eventually, there will be a second tunnel for horses. “We will also redo the inner turf course and redo the main track,” O’Rourke said. “I think it will be a destination place. It’s going to be iconic. I think Belmont is going to be iconic.”

Saratoga Race Course has been iconic for more than 150 years. NYRA has already created new facilities there including the 1863 Club, a new building on the clubhouse turn. “With Saratoga, you’ve got to be very careful,” O’Rourke said. “We have worked with the local community, with the Saratoga Preservation Society and local architects. It’s like you’re playing with a jewel. You just want to polish it.”

They best be careful. Other pricy amenities like 1863 Club are targeting upper-scale customers. Meanwhile, Saratoga has raised its admission price to $10, which includes neither a seat for you or your car in a parking lot. Stopping the extremely popular Open House, which drew more than 10,000 fans the Sunday before Opening Day and benefitted local charities, was a bad decision. Countless fans brought their families to Open House, and the smiles on their children’s faces as they did pony rides, kids’ rides and watched non-betting races suggested NYRA had the solution to making children racing fans for life. Stopping that was a mistake. 

Belmont’s reconstruction will mandate a new location for the 2025 Belmont Stakes, and there is considerable interest from NYRA to stage that race at Saratoga as part of a three- or four-day mini-meet. “Part of me would love to try it at Saratoga,” O’Rourke told David Grening in his June 10th, 2023, story in the Daily Racing Form. “I think it would drive a lot of activity up there. It might set some benchmark that would be tough to ever beat. It would be such a cool event. Everybody I know would want to be there.”

That decision has yet to be made by O’Rourke and the NYRA Board of Trustees. O’Rourke welcomes the input of his Board, which boasts several extremely successful business executives. “I’ve got a lot of people involved in this,” O’Rourke said. “We have a deep Board of Trustees who work to our benefit with their expertise, guys who have worked on billion-dollar projects. Belmont is a half-billion.”

Belmont is scheduled to begin destruction of the grandstand to begin a new grandstand that will start after the 2024 Belmont summer meet. “The goal coming in is having Belmont ready for 2026,” O’Rourke said. “That might be aggressive.”

Maybe aggressive is what Belmont needed. Maybe not. But it sure will be interesting to follow. 

Horsemen and fans got to see part of the new First Turn Club at this year’s Kentucky Derby, part of Churchill Downs’ $200 million, multi-year renovation. Situated about an eighth of a mile past the finish line, the new building, which cost $90 million, drew raves. “The scope of this complex is stunning,” Churchill Downs CEO Bill Carstanjen told Frank Angst of Blood-Horse. “It forever changes the personality of this portion of our venue, which historically had been dominated by a series of temporary structures and back-of-house infrastructure.”

The First Turn Club features 2,000 seats and is climate controlled. It features high ceilings, lounge spaces and large glass windows overlooking the track. Above the indoor area are 5,100 padded stadium seats on two levels. There is a 360-degree, wrap-around LED screen.

The Paddock Project design for Churchill Downs Racetrack.

The Churchill open-air paddock with an oval walking ring and grass center has been replaced with a three-story white brick building located between the track’s iconic twin spires.

Churchill Downs expects the renovations to be completed before the 2024 Kentucky Derby.

Churchill Downs Inc. also spent $148 million renovating Turfway Park, the track it purchased in October, 2019. It tore down its old grandstand, replaced its racing surface and constructed a new grandstand, gaming floor, clubhouse, simulcast area and event center. It also increased its number of historical horse racing machines to 850, a number which could grow to 1,200 if warranted. 

Also in Kentucky, Kentucky Downs—the unique track with a seven-day, all-turf racing meet—began a $25 million renovation project in 2019. Business has been booming ever since, allowing the track to up the purse of its signature race, The Mint Million, from $1 million to $2 million, making the race the second biggest purse for three-year-olds in Kentucky after the Kentucky Derby.

“It’s been a fun ride,” Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs’ vice president of racing told Amanda Duckworth, in her August 28, 2022, story in ThoroughbredRacing.com. “I have been doing this for almost eight years now, and it has been amazing to be part of the continued growth. I have an all-star team that helps me pull off the meet, and we have been trying to take care of the horsemen as best as we possibly can.”

No lie there. The purses at Kentucky Downs and its kidney-shaped turf course are off the charts, thanks to the continued success from its historical horse racing slot-like machines. Last year, a maiden race went for $150,000 and an allowance race for $170,000.

Despite the enormous impact of COVID, Kentucky Downs expanded its open-air Finish Line Pavilion, paved roads, added 40 new stalls and installed fiber internet throughout the facility. Diners have five options: the Irons Steak House, Diner’s Choice, the Corner Café, the Center Bar and the Oasis Sidebar.  

 A lot of tracks are spending a lot of money trying to renovate, experiment and stay with the times. Their futures hang in the balance.

Cella put it this way: “The only reason we’ve been successful and open for 120 years is because we evolved. We’ve taken the pulse of our fans to see how to enhance racing.”

Asked if he believed tracks must redevelop, revitalize and revise, Cella said, “One thousand percent.”         

Enhancing horse safety in training and racing

The Gerald Leigh Memorial Lectures 2023

Article by Adam Jackson MRCVS 

The Gerald Leigh Memorial Lectures, is an annual  gathering devoted to the racing industry and the health and wellbeing of the horses involved.  

This year, equine veterinarians, researchers, students and industry professionals from around the world attended the event, held June 8, 2023, at the historic Tattersalls Sales in Newmarket, England.  

There were insightful and informative lectures that educated the attendants but also instigated a healthy, lively debate on the health and welfare of the training and competing of horses. The underlying theme that was present during the whole event was all members of the conference had a deep passion and commitment to continuously progress and improve on managing the welfare and wellbeing of the horses in the industry, both on and off of the track.  

Two very special guest speakers, Sir Mark Prescott and Luca Cumani, wonderfully illustrated these sentiments as they described their reflections on the improvement and enhancement of horse safety.  

Horse racing may be regarded as an elite sport, and all activities involving horses have an element of risk. All stakeholders in the racing industry must continuously work to ensure that the risks are minimized in order to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities that may occur in training and on the racecourse.  There are now well-publicized concerns regarding the acceptability of exposing horses to risk in racing.  These lectures and all of the attendees embraced the values of the public will so that there can be continued acceptance of horse sports.   

Reducing the Incidence of Fractures in Racing 

Christopher Riggs of The Hong Kong Jockey Club clearly outlined the various strategies to reduce the risk of fractures in racehorses. There are two principal strategies that may used to reduce the incidence of severe fractures in horses while racing and training:

1.Identifying extrinsic factors that increase risk and take action to minimize them. 

An example would be investigating different racing surfaces in order to determine which may provide the safest racing surface. However, studies have provided limited evidence and support for subtle extrinsic factors.

2.Identifying individuals that are at increased risk and prevent them from racing or minimize that risk until the risk has subsided. 

There are many research routes that are being undertaken to identify those horses that may be at a higher risk of fractures. There are investigations involving heritability and molecular studies that may provide evidence of genetic predisposition to fracture. However, Dr. Riggs explained that further understanding of the relationship between genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors is required before genetic screening is likely to be of practical use.  

Pre-race screening of horses by diligent clinical examination is poor at reducing the incidence of fracture. Dr. Riggs described another strategy that may assist with a clinical examination that is the use of biomarkers in blood and urine.  

Unfortunately, the precision to be of practical value has so far remained relatively unrewarding.  Wearable technology that records biometric parameters, including stride characteristics, has shown some promise in identifying horses that are at increased risk of fracture; although Dr. Riggs explained that this work requires further development.  

Finally, Dr. Riggs described both the use and current limitations of  diagnostic imaging in identifying pre-fracture pathology in order to identify a horse at imminent risk of fracture.  He conceded that further knowledge of the significance of the range of abnormalities that can be detected by imaging is incomplete.

Dr. Riggs concluded his lecture by expressing that the implementation of  diagnostic imaging to screen  “high-risk” horses identified through genetic, epidemiology, biomarkers and/or biometrics may be the best hope to reduce the incidence of racing fractures. This field can be advanced with further studies, especially of a longitudinal nature.

Professor Tim Barker of Bristol Veterinary School discussed the need for further investment in welfare research and education. One avenue of investment that should be seriously considered is the analysis of data related to (fatal) injuries in Thoroughbred racing over the last 25 years.  

It was expressed, with the abundance of data that has been collected, that some risk factors would be relatively simple to identify. An encouraging example in the collection and use of data to develop models in predicting and potentially preventing injury has been conducted by the Hong Kong Jockey Club funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Equine Welfare Research Foundation. This may provide an opportunity to pilot the use of risk profiling to contribute to decision-making about race entries.  In addition, the results of the pilot study combined with other sources of data may encourage race authorities to mandate the collection of veterinary and training data in order to help in risk mitigation.

Horse racing is an international sport, and there are different governing bodies that ensure racing integrity. However, the concept of social license equestrian sports and Thoroughbred horse racing continues to gain significant public attention.  Therefore, racing governing bodies are increasingly aiming to provide societal assurances on equine welfare. 

Dr. Ramzan of Rossdales Veterinary Surgeons provided an eloquent and clear message during his lecture that race yard veterinarians and trainers are instrumental in ensuring good horse health and welfare and reducing serious injury of the horse both while training or racing, which will provide sufficient trust and legitimacy from the public and society.  This feasible goal can be reached with good awareness of members involved in the care and training of each individual horse and conveying this information and any concerns to their veterinarian.  The veterinarian can also contribute by honing their knowledge and skills and working closely with yard staff in order to make appropriate and better targeted veterinary intervention.   

In the last two decades, there has been an incredible evolution and exciting developments in diagnostic imaging in the veterinary profession. It is believed that these technologies can provide a significant contribution to helping in mitigating fracture risks to racehorses on the course and in training.  

Professor Mathieu Spriet of University of California, Davis, described how these improvements in diagnostic imaging has led to the detection of early lesions as well as allowing the monitoring of the lesions’ evolution.  

He continued by explaining the strengths and limitations of different imaging modalities such as computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET).  Being one of the leaders in the use of PET in equine veterinary medicine, he presented further insight on how this particular modality provides high-resolution 3-D bone scans while being very sensitive to the identification of bone turn-over prior to the development of structural changes and allowing one to distinguish between active and inactive processes when structural changes are present.  

He concluded his impressive lecture by providing evidence with amazing PET images that the role of imaging is not merely for diagnostic purposes to characterize clinical abnormalities, but can also be used as a screening tool in certain horse populations for fracture risk assessment or for the monitoring of lesions to provide clearance for racing. 

Fractures, due to bone overloading rather than direct trauma occur commonly in Thoroughbred racehorses and are the leading cause of euthanasia on the racecourse. Despite many changes to race conditions, the number of catastrophic fractures has remained relatively static, with approximately 60 horses a year having a fatal fracture during a race in the UK.  

Against this backdrop, there have been great developments in the diagnosis and treatment of fractures in the last 40 years. Prevention of racecourse and training fractures would be ideal so the development of efficacious techniques to screen horses at risk may reduce the incidence and preserve social licensing.  

Dr. Ian Wright

One technique discussed by Dr. Ian Wright of Newmarket Equine Referrals was to help mitigate the impact of racecourse fractures, which would be acute immobilization of racecourse fractures, thus, reducing associated pain and anxiety while optimizing clinical outcome and reducing on course fatality rates. Because of our increased understanding of fracture pathogenesis and their associated biomechanics, effective fracture immobilization has been made possible. The majority of fractures that occur in flat racing and between obstacles in jump racing, are a result of stress or fatigue failure of the bone and not associated with trauma.  

In addition, fractures seen on the racecourse are often found in the same specific sites (i.e., metacarpal/metatarsal condyles and the proximal sesamoid bones of the fetlock) and have repeatable configurations. With this understanding and knowledge, racecourse veterinarians can optimally immobilize a fracture in a logical and pre-planned manner.  

As Dr. Wright expressed, this allows the fracture patient to have reduced pain and anxiety and enable the horse to be moved from the course comfortably so that it can be further examined. Ultimately, this allows the veterinarian and all stakeholders to make effective and judicious decisions for the sake of the horse’s welfare and wellbeing. As Dr. Wright concluded, this benefits both horses and racing.

Dr. Debbie Guest of the Royal Veterinary College discussed a different approach in mitigating the risk of fractures during training and racing by developing novel tools to reduce catastrophic fractures Thoroughbreds. Because it has been found that some horses are more inherently predisposed to fractures than other horses, Dr. Guest and her team have developed a genome-wide polygenic risk score so that one can potentially calculate an individual horse’s risk of fracturing during training or racing compared to the population as a whole.  

This strategy may contribute in identifying genetically high-risk horses so that additional monitoring of the patients can be exercised during their careers and also leading to fracture risk, which are found to be the cause of approximately half of these incidents.  

The system of using DNA testing to identify biological processes that may or may not be present ultimately leading to fracture risk may be a powerful tool in lowering the risk of catastrophic fracture and requires further research and application.

Cardiac events & sudden cardiac death in training and racing

In racehorses, sudden death that is associated with exercise on the racetrack or during training is a serious risk to jockeys and adversely affects horse welfare and the public perception of the sport. It is believed 75% of race day fatalities result from euthanasia following a catastrophic injury. The other 25% of fatalities is due to sudden deaths and cardiac arrhythmias are found to be the cause of approximately half of these incidents. The lectures focused on this area of concern by providing three interesting lectures on cardiac issues in the racehorse industry.  

Dr. Laura Nath of the University of Adelaide, explained the difficulties in identifying horses that are at risk of sudden cardiac death. It is believed that part of the solution to this difficult issue is the further development and use of wearable devices including ECG and heart rate monitors.  

With the use of these technologies, the goal would be to recognize those horses that are not progressing appropriately through their training and screen these horses for further evaluation. This course of action has been seen in human athletes that develop irregular rhythms that are known to cause sudden cardiac death with the use of computational ECG analysis, even when the ECGs appear normal on initial visual inspection.  

Knowing that ECGs and particularly P-waves are used as a non-invasive electrocardiographic marker for atrial remodeling in humans, Dr. Nath recently completed a study on the analysis variations in the P-wave seen on ECGs in athletic horses and found that increases of P-waves in racehorses are associated with structural and electrical remodeling in the heart and may increase the risk of atrial fibrillation (cardiac event).

Dr. Celia Marr of Rossdales Veterinary Surgeons continued the discussion of cardiac disease in both the training and racing of horses. Unfortunately, cardiac disease knowledge does lag compared to musculoskeletal and respiratory diseases when considering the causes of poor performance in racehorses. Due to the fact that cardiac rhythm disturbances are fairly common, occurring in around 5–10% of training sessions in healthy horses in Newmarket and over 50% of horses investigated for poor performance, Dr. Marr expressed the need for further research and investigation in this area.  

In addition, this research needs to determine if there is indeed a link between heart rhythm disturbances and repeated episodes of poor performance and sudden cardiac arrest. ECGs and associated technologies are helpful, but there are limitations such as the fact that rhythm disturbances do not always occur every time the horse is exercised.  Therefore, it would be of great value that a robust criterion is established when evaluating ECGs in racehorses. The Horserace Betting Levy Board has provided funding for investigation by initially exploring the natural history of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (self-correcting form) to understand risk factors and predict outcomes for affected horses.

Continuing the theme of the lectures on irregular heart rhythms and associated sudden cardiac death (SCD) in training and racing, Professor Kamalan Jeevaratnam described his exciting research in using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify horses at increased risk of developing irregular rhythms that may cause SCD.  

AI is an exciting and rapidly expanding field of computer science that is beginning to be implemented in veterinary medicine. With funding by the Horserace Betting Levy Board and the Grayson Jockey Club Research Foundation, Professor Jeevaratnam of the University of Surrey, has piloted three novel algorithms that help predict horses with rhythm abnormalities through the analysis of horses’ ECGs.  

It was acknowledged that further research is required to develop this technology by using data collected from multiple sources, but the initial results are promising in the development of an useful AI tool to identify horses at risk of SCD and prevent catastrophic events, thus, ensuring the welfare of the horse in racing.

Conclusion

The Gerald Leigh Memorial Lectures was a thoroughly successful and enjoyable event attended by a variety of different members of the horse racing industry. Not only did the lecturers provide interesting and valuable information but also excitement for the future of racing.  It was very clear that all the lecturers and attendees were passionate and committed to the racehorse welfare and wellbeing as well as retaining the social license for an exciting sport.

Betting on racing's future - innovations to grow handle

Article by Bill Heller

Fueled by new technology, there’s an ever-changing, brave new world of wagering domestically and internationally. North American horsemen and racetracks are doing their best to be part of it, finding innovative ways to increase handle—the lifeblood of horsemen.

Sports gambling, fixed odds and international commingled pools are already operating in North American racing. Figuring out their roles in racing’s future is a difficult exercise because of the ever-changing landscape, one which includes illegal off-shore wagering operations stealing races from tracks and returning nothing to their horsemen.

Just when it seemed like sports gambling was sweeping the nation, California voters last November rejected two propositions for sports gambling by a wide margin.

Five and a half months later, sports gambling was passed in Kentucky.

On March 22, the FanDuel Group, which includes FanDuel Sportsbook, FanDuel Racing, FanDuel TV and TVG.com and the Breeders’ Cup Limited announced a multi-year agreement to extend FanDuel’s status as the Official Wagering Partner of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. FanDuel will continue as a title partner for both the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

The Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge on Breeders’ Cup World Championships Saturday at Churchill Downs.

“FanDuel has been a great partner for the Breeders’ Cup because horse racing is in their DNA,” Breeders’ Cup CEO and President Drew Fleming said. “FanDuel has an aggregate app which combines sports betting and horse wagering. The Breeders’ Cup believes sports wagering is racing’s biggest marketing opportunity. Our product will be on the bookshelf with leagues like the NBA, the NFL and Major League Baseball. Our product is great, and we’re looking forward to having that product before millions of new eyes. It’s a concentrated group. They like sports. And they like betting. It’s a great opportunity for us.”

Just nine days later after the Breeders’ Cup announcement, on the final day of the 2023 legislative session, Kentucky approved sports betting, becoming the 38th state to do so, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. Sports betting in the Commonwealth will begin in late June.

“Kentucky had been an island, sports-wagering-wise,” FanDuel Group Racing General Manager Andrew Moore said. “I think they have seen a lot of people driving out of their state to wager on sports.” FanDuel Group is a subsidiary of Flutter Entertainment, which also runs Betfair in England.

Pat Cummings, the executive director of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation and founder and president of Global Racing Solutions, said, “I live in Lexington, and I will have an account for sports wagering. It’s real. It’s here. It’s growing.”

Not in California. Millions of dollars were spent in California to support two sports gambling propositions, and California voters rejected them. “Both were defeated,” Thoroughbred Owners of California President and CEO Bill Nader said. “We would relish the opportunity to have access to a secondary stream of income to help purse structure. If sports gambling does come to California, we need to be part of it.”

Nader, whose previous race career included six years at the New York Racing Association as senior vice-president and chief operating officer and 15 years in various senior positions for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, is well aware of the problem of unlicensed off-shore wagering companies. “Anything that’s legal is fine,” Nader said. “It’s the unlicensed off-shore operations that are a real threat for the industry. It’s a serious threat. Effectively, it’s siphoning money from the industry with no return to the industry.”

Asked how wide-spread illegal off-shore wagering is, Nader said, “It’s more than you think.”

Nader said Martin Pubrick, Chairman of the Council of Anti-illegal Betting and Related Financial Crime of the Asian Racing Foundation, is one of the world’s most knowledgeable racing officials on illegal offshore operations. He said, “Illegal betting operators have an increase in customers visiting their websites that is almost twice as high a growth race as legal licensed operators. Illegal betting is a major threat to racing and sports integrity, and if not combatted, can completely undermine public confidence in racing and sports. As betting on horse racing and other sports continue to globalize, it is increasingly difficult to differentiate between online legal and illegal betting operators.”

Meanwhile, sports gambling continues to grow. According to Moore, racing handle in the United States last year was more than $11 billion, and sports betting in January 2023, was $10 billion—a number which will only grow when Kentucky adds it.

“This is an important opportunity for racing,” Moore said. “It’s very important for racing not to miss that opportunity. My fear is that if this chance is missed, sports bettors will find different things to bet than horse racing. This is where the new audience is. This is where the next generation of bettors is. I’m really excited about getting horse racing in front of them.”

How will they respond? FanDuel started its new horse wagering/sports wagering app in December. “We’re seeing a strong takeoff,” Moore said. “We have had tens of thousands of people betting on horse racing for the first time. We’re very excited for the Kentucky Derby to come.”

Asked if there’s a risk horse racing bettors will switch to sports betting, Moore said, “They already are. That doesn’t mean they’re going to abandon horse racing. Racing as a stand-alone product can’t compete with sports betting. It needs to be available in that world.”

Asked the same question about losing racing bettors to sports betting, Fleming said, “Sports betting far outweighs the risk.”  

Will that new audience demand a different form of wagering more in tune with their experience betting on sports? “I think that fixed odds is a huge opportunity in the United States,” Moore said. “I think it would be a game-changer. I love pari-mutuel, but pari-mutuel is dated. There are a lot of important considerations with fixed odds. Horsemen and tracks are very wary. But pari-mutuel is already fading out. Opportunities to innovate would be worth the risks.”

Monmouth Park has already taken that risk. The New Jersey track began offering fixed odds last August. “Five years from now, fixed odds will be 50 percent of the handle on horse racing in New Jersey,” Monmouth Park’s Chairman and CEO Dennis Drazin told John Brennan on August 4 in his online story (njonlinegambling.com), “younger people love it because they are used to a sports betting mentality. A lot of older bettors—they are more reluctant to try something new. We need something to attract a lot of new customers, and the idea of fixed odds has always appealed to me.”

It’s appealing to lots of people around the globe. At the National Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association and Association of Racing Commissioners Conference March 6–10 in New Orleans, Michele Fischer, vice-president of SIS Content Services, said that $44.3 billion globally was wagered worldwide through fixed odds on horse racing last year—led by Australia ($19.1 billion) and the UK ($12.9 billion). “We’ve really had a mantra to educate our members on what’s coming,” National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback told Jennie Rees in her story about the conference. “I believe sports wagering and fixed odds are in our future. But it’s up to us to continue to educate everyone properly on the pros, the cons and the nuances of what’s going on.”

Moore is certainly doing his part. “We have a lot of skin in the game,” Moore said. “We have a lot of long-standing partnerships. Whatever we do, we’ll be in consultation. Over the next few years, we’re going to push it hard. You can bring a lot of new customers into the sport. We all know the frustration of going to the window, placing a bet and thinking you’re getting 5-1, and getting much lower odds. Try to explain that to a new customer. When you bring someone new into racing, it’s hard to hold on to new bettors in the age of instant gratification.”

Cummings says he’s a “huge fan” of fixed odds, with a twist: “We need it. We don’t need it to replace pari-mutuel wagering. We need it to complement pari-mutuel wagering.”

Pari-mutuel wagering suffers when huge bets are sent electronically in the final seconds before post time. They skew odds and screw winning bettors with dramatically less return.

In his March 23, 2023, story in The Financial Times, Oliver Roeder wrote that computer-assisted wagers (CAWs) made by four very large bettors generate as much as one-third of the national handle for the year.

He also said that research from Cummings showed CAW handle has increased 150 percent in the past 20 years, while betting from the general public decreased 63 percent.

“The current trend is that the one or two biggest players are having a deleterious effect on mainstream players for sure,” Cummings said. “It causes higher takeout, less churn and really makes it difficult for your average player. Mandatory payout days are feeding days for the CAWs. They kill it on mandatory payout days.” 

Fixed odds eliminate that problem.

Racing’s inherent nature could be a powerful inducement to sports bettors who want instant gratification. Sports bettors must suffer through two or three hours of changing scores, momentum shifts and possibly meaningless scores at the end of a game that can cost them their wager. Horse races are over in two minutes or less. And simulcasting allows bettors either on-track or off-track to switch racetracks in seconds.

Racetracks from different countries working together can keep all bettors busy. With commingled pools, odds can be more attractive. “For the Breeders’ Cup, we started with international combined pools in 1996,” Fleming said. “We are very proud we had 26 countries mingle into our common, global pool last year. Then we had seven other countries with separate pari-mutuel pools. To the Breeders’ Cup, we put our international participation as one of our pillars. We seek the best horses and also work with our global partners to promote the sport internationally and have strong international wagering.”

Of course, the Breeders’ Cup isn’t the only entity already working internationally. On September 22, last fall, the New York Racing Association Current Management Solutions (CMS), a subsidiary of NYRA, and 1/ST Content announced a 10-year partnership to expand distribution of North American racing internationally. Part of the agreement calls for NYRA CMS to acquire a significant equity position in TSG Global Wagering Solution, a 1/ST subsidiary company. 

“This agreement assures that North American horse racing’s stakeholders are the primary beneficiaries of revenues generated through international wagering, further strengthening the domestic industry for the next generation of fan and bettor,” according to 1/ST Content’s CEO Gregg Colvin. NYRA’s Chief Revenue Officer Tony Allevaro said, “Sports fans and bettors around the world can look forward to more coverage of top-quality racing than ever before.”

1/ST Content’s distribution network stretches to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Africa, as well as serving 1/ST Racing’s Gulfstream Park, Santa Anita, Golden Gate Fields, Laurel and Pimlico, NYRA’s Belmont Park, Saratoga and Aqueduct, Del Mar, Keeneland, Tampa Bay Downs and Woodbine.

On April 4, it was announced that from May 1, BetMakers’ Global Racing Network’s (GRN) race meetings will be available for inclusion in 1/ST Content’s broadcast schedule. This will result in signals from tracks such as Kentucky Downs, Charles Town, Mahoning Valley, Penn National, Sam Houston, Zia Park and Monmouth Park benefiting from increased global exposure.

BetMakers’ Chief Executive Officer Jake Henson said, “The partnership with 1/ST Content is designed to be an important addition to BetMakers’ Global Racing Network, further broadening our global racing distribution base with a strong and credible partner in expansive markets, which can deliver enhanced returns to our racetrack partners.”

Founded in 2000, Betfair has been offering international wagering for more than 20 years. With its headquarters in Hammersmith in London (England) and overseas hubs in Malta and Ceuta, Spain, Betfair offers horse racing, sports betting and online casino, poker and bingo.

In November 2009, Betfair announced a deal with the New York Racing Association to start wagering immediately on Aqueduct. TVG Network, which is now FanDuel TV, was acquired in 2009 for $50 million. In February 2016, Betfair merged with Paddy Power to create Flutter Entertainment. Two years later, Betfair offered live-betting customers fixed odds. 

Another European company, XBGlobal.com, based in Germany, offers customers wagers, which are “directly commingled into host track pools, giving you access to the world’s most lucrative wagers,” and offers marquis Thoroughbred tracks in the United States, simulcasting from Chile and greyhound racing. XBGlobal.com is an affiliate of Xpressbet, LLC, on file with the Oregon Racing Commission—a site chosen because of tax advantages.

There is a worldwide racing stage, and North American tracks have yet to be involved. The World Pool offers international, commingling pools with top racing events operated through the Hong Kong Jockey Club. The first World Pool event was at Royal Ascot in 2019. Since then, it has been expanded to cover the Dubai World Cup in Meydan, the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, The Oaks and The Derby (both run at Epsom Downs in the United Kingdom), Gold Cup Day in South Africa and Irish Champions Day at Leopardstown in Ireland. 

This year, the World Pool has been expanded to include the Lightning Stakes Day in Australia, the Saudi Cup and the Irish Derby. That gives the World Pool 25 dates, up four from last year, including Melbourne Cup Day in Australia.

Asked about the World Pool, Breeders’ Cup’s Fleming said, “We have continued dialogue with Hong Kong and other jurisdictions. Hong Kong did the Breeders’ Cup last year. Anything is possible. We already operate our own global pool since 1996. We want to grow the pie.”

FanDuel’s Moore said, “It will be interesting to see how it works out.”

The same can be said for new wagering innovations in a continually changing global landscape. Racing’s future depends on it.

“We need to modernize and give our customers confidence that we can compete for the wagering dollar,” Cummings said. “We’re really not trying today. We’re existing. There are a lot of reasons to be pessimistic about horse racing, but there’s one key positive. We have not tried to grow the betting. We need to modernize and give our customers confidence that we can compete for the wagering dollar.”

The competition has never been greater. Technology waits for no one.   

Is sexual harassment an issue on the backstretch?

Words - Ken Snyder

“You’ve come a long way baby” was a slogan for a cigarette brand back in the late ‘60s.  And while more and more women trainers are commonplace on racetracks, the problem is they and other females are still addressed as “baby” and far, far worse by male workers…in the early 2020s.

Sexual harassment at racetracks, like practically all workplaces across America, exists. And things far worse than a “honey,” “sweetie,” or yes, “baby” is directed at women by men unfamiliar with them, creating uncomfortableness or offense.

To wit, at one racetrack, female workers living on the backside above the barns generally can’t leave their rooms at night by themselves.

At another racetrack, a female assistant trainer living on the backside had to make sure to lock her tack room door as there were persons, presumably drunk and/or drugged men, pounding on it on many nights. 

The locations of the instances above are not important because sexual harassment is everywhere on every racetrack. Extremes like the situations above are seemingly minor forms of harassment, not physically threatening but damaging on another level.

Sandra Washington, a 21-year-old assistant trainer to John Alexander Ortiz, is the tack room survivor.  Much to Ortiz’s credit (and were all trainers this thoughtful and generous) he moved Washington into his home with his wife and family for two years. He expressed his reason succinctly: “There are some bad people back here.”

There are bad people everywhere, but the racetrack is an environment with living arrangements and working hours that make for far more dangerous scenarios.   

A member of one racetrack chaplaincy, who is female and ministers specifically to female backside workers, said, “I am not allowed to work here when it is dark.” Not surprisingly, the racetrack she serves is where female barn workers also can’t go out when it is dark either.

“Most of them take showers right after they work.  They don’t want to be out of their room” she said.

“If they do go out, they make sure to be part of a group,” she added, “but most completely avoid it.”

To say the racetrack is different from other workplace environments is comparing Mother Earth to the moon.  Where to begin?  The biggest difference is a huge majority of female workers on the racetrack do not leave their place of work for homes elsewhere.  As many as 85% of workers live in racetrack dorms or above barns (and also above the horses). Life with male co-workers in some kind of proximity is 24/7. 

Demographically, female racetrack workers are overwhelmingly Hispanic. In fact, racing in the U.S. might employ more Hispanics, per capita, than any other industry. If this is not a factor in the degree or number of instances of harassment, it certainly is a factor in how female victims respond to it. (More on this later.) 

Add to that an outdoor environment. “Catcalls are a common commodity back here,” according to Washington—something that will bring you before Human Resources in a hurry in office settings, typically. 

Lastly, there are cultural and economic issues unique to the racetrack. 

Understanding the impact of coming to a foreign country and an environment that can be virtually inescapable is a factor in being preyed upon, according to Karen Jemima Davila. She is a student at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville and assistant to Churchill Downs racetrack chaplain, Joseph del Rosario. “It’s just work, work, work. They [Hispanic women] save a little bit for themselves and the rest they send back to their homes.  It affects how they do things and how they understand themselves.” 

Most do not know what is out-of-bounds as far as treatment from men because they are not integrated into American culture, lifestyle, and, most important, rights.  And if they do know what is permissible and what is not, they fear reprisal or job loss if they report harassment.

“I’ll lose my job--that’s the biggest fear. ‘If I come forward, are they going to kick me out and take my license?’” said Eli Hernandez, racetrack chaplain at Santa Anita, Del Mar, and San Luis Rey.

“That’s the problem right there. ‘I keep my mouth shut; I’ll keep my job.”  

Social pressures also exist to prevent either coming forward or pursuing a complaint to a conclusion and action by the racetrack against a perpetrator.  “The word starts getting around that it’s their fault.  ‘You brought this on yourself.‘ ‘You’re easy.’  People start whispering,” said Hernandez. 

“That’s a lot of pressure. You’re talking about 25-, 26-, 27-year-olds.  All they’re trying to do is make a living and support their families.  It’s bad enough they’re away from their families,” said Hernandez.

Another factor is a fear of deportation if they come forward—a fear not grounded in fact.  According to Hernandez and others questioned, a Hispanic woman who is an illegal immigrant is regarded as a possible victim of an offense and that only. Nothing more, nothing less. With representatives at every jurisdiction interviewed for this story, the message was the same:  immigration status is not and will not be an issue with a woman lodging a complaint. 

Are Hispanic women unaware of immunity from deportation proceedings if they file a complaint for sexual harassment?  Lynn McNally of the Nebraska Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) responded, “That’s a good question.” 

“Probably more could be done to communicate that there wouldn’t be repercussions in their immigration status because they reported something.”

Racetracks—it is safe to say and to their credit—are not ignoring the issue or standing still on measures to prevent it. Churchill Downs and the racetrack chaplaincy, along with non-profit organizations historically supporting efforts there and the Kentucky HBPA are re-instituting meetings from pre-Covid days to make female workers aware of what is and what isn’t sexual harassment, and what to do if they are harassed.

Before Covid, Churchill Downs conducted three meetings a year in the on-track chapel there.

“There are always new people, so this has to be ongoing—something that we continually address,” said del Rosario.

“The purpose is to encourage women to not accept that kind of behavior…to speak out, that Churchill Downs Security is not going to tolerate it, and to pass the word to others.“

One initiative that was also pre-Covid was hiring a women’s ministry director—a position now filled by Davila.  “That has helped build trust. A woman talking to another woman will make it easier,” said del Rosario.

Nebraska tracks are similar to Churchill Downs in that harassment prevention seems to be a collective effort from various racetrack constituencies.

Both the Nebraska HBPA board members and management at racetracks in the state are at the core of a shift in attitudes of mutual respect, according to McNally. “I think that that gives us a tremendous advantage in moving things forward and having women feel comfortable in the workplace.

“There’s a difference between being internally supportive and actually taking action to prevent behaviors from occurring with employees. Our president, Gerald Wilson, has been extremely vocal about treating all employees respectfully. He’s been very, very proactive and vocal about it.”  

Women-to-women relationships, counsel, and guidance are probably the most important keys to prevention on Nebraska racetracks as well, according to Lynne McNally.  “We are an all-female staff at the HBPA.”

Hernandez, as well, is mindful of gender in building trust issues in his work in Southern California.

“I always have my wife there,” he said of encounters with female barn workers reporting harassment. “Sometimes they just want to talk to my wife.

“‘Who can I trust?  Who can I come to where I’m not going to be judged? ‘You’re not going to put me down.’  ‘You’re not going to blame me, but you’re going to listen to me,’” Hernandez said, echoing what he has heard and what he has seen in serving as a chaplain in Southern California.

“I told my wife when we started four years ago, ‘Let’s show people our hearts before we ask them to show us their hearts.’”  

Hernandez believes he and his wife have built a foundation where women are less hesitant about coming forward.

Coming forward, however, is only the beginning of a process that often is short-circuited by the victim.

He recalled driving a female racetrack worker to make a report who, on the way, told him she didn’t want to proceed with a report after all. “‘I don’t want to get a bad reputation.  I don't want people to start talking bad about me,’” he recalled her saying in response to why she wouldn’t file a report. 

“It will happen.  Everybody is going to know.  Everybody is going to say she’s a slut, or she’s the one who gave in.”

The number of individuals coming to Hernandez—two female workers last year and three in 2020—would seem to indicate the issue is not a big one, at least at Southern California racetracks. The fact is, the number of harassment offenses unreported is inestimable.

The need expressed by everyone responsible for harassment in the racetrack environment is better communication to female barn workers about their rights and making certain of good resources for protection.

Hernandez is an example, perhaps, of resources and equally important, a thoughtful, careful approach to aiding and supporting a victim. “Our main goal is to build trust by having a safe zone here where people just come here.  

“We put out clothes, water, toiletries, shoes, and Pampers every day.  We also make breakfast for people who don’t have money.  

Perhaps more impactful and important for harassment victims is how he and his wife approach the individual. “Let’s do one ‘stitch’ at a time,” said Hernandez, using a wound analogy to describe both what he sees in harassment victims and the care that he and his wife try to bring to women coming to them. “We won't try to close up the wound in one day.  Let’s talk a little bit today and then tomorrow we’ll visit it again.”

Let’s hope racing will have fewer “wounds” for the Sandra Washingtons of racing and the many, many Hispanic female workers simply trying to make a living for themselves and their families in their home countries.  

A living is not always a life.

Advocating for Humane Education - the work being done to educate youngsters in equine welfare

Words - Bill Heller

How do you change culture? How do you ensure horses’ welfare? “Education is the answer,” Equine Advocates’ founder Susan Wagner said. “To me, it’s the only thing that changes the picture.”

She knows quite a bit about change. When Secretariat’s 1973 Triple Crown chase drew her to the racetrack for the first time, she witnessed his 31-length victory in the 1973 Belmont Stakes and was so dazzled that she quit her job and got a new one as a hotwalker on the backstretch the very next day. A myriad of jobs followed: working at Sagamore Farms in Maryland; writing for the Horsemen’s Journal; doing radio and TV work for the New York Racing Association  and for Teletrack off-track betting in New Haven, Connecticut; and becoming the first female jockey agent in New York, representing George Martens, who won the 1981 Belmont Stakes on Summing to deny Pleasant Colony the Triple Crown. She then worked for New York Zoological Society and for Friends of Animals.

When she learned of horse slaughter in the United States, she and her sister Karen began Equine Advocates (EA) in 1996. They opened the Equine Advocate Farm and Sanctuary near Chatham, New York—40 miles southeast of Saratoga Springs—in late 2004. EA currently has 82 residents, including 19 Thoroughbreds. The newest horse, a wild Mustang mare named Onaqui, arrived from Utah on June 4.

In 2006, with the considerable help of longtime supporter and Thoroughbred owner and breeder Jeffrey Tucker, EA constructed a humane education center on the 140-acre farm to teach kids, preschool through college, about the humane treatment of horses. She was stunned two years later to learn that New York State has a law mandating humane education courses be taught at elementary schools. Section 809 of New York State Education Law mandates every elementary school in the state teach “the humane treatment and protection of animals and the importance of the part they play in the economy of nature as well as the necessity of controlling the proliferation of animals which are subsequently abandoned and caused to suffer extreme cruelty.” The law has been on the books since 1947, yet very few schools even know about it today.

Fifty-five years after the law was passed, the New York State Bar Association created the Committee on Animals and the Law to focus on legal issues regarding the interests of animals and to serve as a legal resource for humane-related issues pertaining to animals and “make a difference for both animals and people.”

Just like that law, few people are aware of that committee.

But at least New York State has a humane education mandate. Only eight of the other 49 states do: California, Florida, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington. 

“If any state should offer humane education, Kentucky immediately comes to mind since the breeding of horses for racing is what that state is most famous for,” Wagner said.

“There’s been a law since 1947, but it hasn’t been implemented,” retired Brooklyn elementary school teacher Sheila Schwartz said. “There’s no one around to see that it’s being done.”

She said she was “shocked” when she learned about the state law from the ASPCA in 1980. She began teaching it immediately and continued to do so until she retired in 2014. She created a humane education curriculum in 1985, and served as the chairman of the United Federation of Teachers Humane Education program from 1989 through 2014. “We were a support group,” she said. “Most of the teachers didn’t want to start a program.”

Asked to guess what percentage of schools have programs now, she replied, “I’d be surprised it is more than two to five percent.”

PETA noted: “Under New York State’s current education laws, elementary schools are required to provide instruction in the humane treatment and protection of animals. Unfortunately, many educators are not even aware of this requirement, and compliance is inconsistent.”

Teachers that do want to start humane education courses have a valuable resource in Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers (H.E.A.R.T), which offers full-service humane education programs in New York City, Chicago and Indianapolis and is accessible online. Its mission is “to develop a generation of compassionate youth who create positive change for animals, people and the natural world.”

What have all these kids who didn’t have humane education classes been missing? “Humane education gives them another way to view animals,” Schwartz said. “I think it makes them empathetic to animals and to each other. When I did the program, we would have them role playing. What are the alternatives?”

Susan Wagner has made a career of finding alternatives for horses. Yet she is realistic: “We can’t rescue every horse. So the best thing we can do is teach young people the tools to rescue them on their own in addition to being able to report animal abuse to the authorities. One of our main issues is to eliminate horses being treated poorly.”

Yet she and Michele Jacobs, the humane education teacher she hired last November, do not indoctrinate their students. “We don’t tell these kids what they should think,” Wagner said. “We show photos of a horse pulling a carriage in a busy city and a horse in a pasture pulling a carriage in a field. We ask the kids, ``What do you see? What do you feel?’ Then we get them to talk about horses. We tell them the different types of horses and what they are used for. There are ways to handle a horse properly. We’re very careful not to tell them what is right or what is wrong. They look at the pictures and they decide.”

Then they get to tour Susan’s farm. Horses meant to be slaughtered and/or have suffered abuse are now living like kings and queens in oversized paddocks, receiving excellent care and huge doses of love and carrots from a steady stream of visitors. Each horse’s story is posted just outside their paddock. They come to Susan when she calls their names. The bond she enjoys with them is obvious.

In 2019, the last full year of activity before the two-year pandemic, more than 800 students from nearby schools enjoyed the EA’s classes and tours. “It’s great for these kids,” Wagner said. “They love it. Some bring their parents back on open-house days.”

Michele, who began riding lessons when she was four, said. “It’s wonderful working here. I had teaching jobs all over the area, and I’ve always wanted a job working with horses.” Now she’s doing both.

She, too, was unaware of the state law: “I did not know about it. I don’t know why schools aren’t doing programs.”

Her programs at EA are geared to “inspire a new love of equines by thinking for themselves,” Michele said. “We talk about taking care of the horses. The younger ones’ reactions are curiosity. They want to know more about the animal. I had third and fifth grade students last week,” Michele said. ”They all sat down right away. They were very interested. They asked very intelligent questions. Even the third-graders were all over about horses having feelings. Their faces lit up. Another time, we had a three-year-old with one of the horses. It was her first time seeing a horse—a huge animal. The way she looked at him and touched him was beautiful.”

Michele’s three kids, 11-year-old Benjamin, 13-year-old Matthew and 16-year-old Caleb, have all been to Susan’s farm. “I’m very passionate about horses, seeing their expressions,” Benjamin said. “I like petting them. I want to help my mom with humane education. It’s definitely not right to treat horses badly. A lot of other animals, too. I want to learn about it.”

Matthew, who helps his mom take care of their own horse, said, “I just think they’re really cool animals. I think it’s very important because if you treat them the wrong way, you’re not going to live a happy life. I believe the animals have feelings, too.”

Caleb, their 16-year-old brother, has done a 10-hour volunteering stint at EA and plans on doing it again as a part of his school’s mandated policy of volunteer work. “I think the farm is really beautiful,” he said. “I know they treat their horses and other animals very well. I think what they are doing is excellent.” 

Other kids of Caleb's age are happy participants at EA, too. Danielle Melino, who lives in Austerlitz, 15 minutes from EA, is a high school agriculture teacher at Housatonic Valley High School in Connecticut (EA is close to the New York-Connecticut state line). “We were the first post-COVID class to visit the farm,” she said. “It was probably the best field trip I’ve taken with my kids in years. We heard from Michele, Susan and volunteers. My students were blown away. They learned about a lot of topics: PMU (pregnant mares’ urine used to treat menopause), wild Mustangs, horse slaughter, carriage horses and camp horses. We learned about the history of the organization. I always tell my students these horses couldn’t ask for a better setting and better care on these beautiful grounds.” 

 She was so impressed with EA’s program that she reached out to another high school who also visited the farm, and also brought her 4-H class there. “I think humane education should be in every school,” Danielle said.

Daniela Caschera teaches preschool for three- and four-year-olds kids at Albany Academy, where Michele had taught. Her kids did a zoom with Michele. “She had left a bucket of items before we did the zoom,” Caschera said. “We guessed what they might be used for. Then, when she zoomed, she talked about those items: a horseshoe, some food, a brush, a file for teeth.

“They were so excited. One of my students, Leon Carey, then visited the farm with his parents. He loves animals. His father is a vet. His grandfather has a reindeer farm in Corning.”

Daniela was appreciative of having a zoom with Michele available during the pandemic: “With COVID, it was a way to introduce something new to the kids. My kids were very engaged, for three- and four-year-olds. They asked a lot of questions. After that, Michele gave us part of a tour.”

One moment stood out for Daniela: “We were talking about horses sleeping standing up. One of my little girls asked why. She’s the youngest person in my class. And she told her mom why horses sleep standing up. It stuck.”

Daniela intends to spend a whole week next year focused on horses as part of her curriculum.

Ray Whelihan, an associate professor at the State University of New York – Cobleskill, teaches an animal science class. He’s been visiting Susan’s farm for a decade. “Susan is a key part of the course,” he said. “She zoomed during COVID. It is such a professional organization over there. She gives extraordinary care.”

Susan has been working with Ray to create an individual course focusing solely on horses and/or a course of equine ethics.

“We desperately need humane education because kids are the future horse caregivers in America,” Wagner said. “I think every state should have humane education because every state has horses. For states with major horse racing and breeding, humane education should be compulsory because there are so many more horses bred. It’s important to make sure that every horse bred to race, whether or not he races, has a soft landing. Humane euthanasia should be considered a last resource to make sure the horses don’t fall through the cracks and end up being slaughtered.”

Classes and tours are just part of EA’s humane education program. Its Kid’s Corner is part of its Fun From Home program. There are equine-themed puzzles, quizzes, mazes and games, and video tours of the farm. 

Brand new are the Equine Readers Club, offered online, once a month on Saturdays at noon, which are available on Facebook and YouTube; and “Live at Lunchtime” on Wednesdays is also available on those two platforms.

Following a two-year absence during the pandemic, EA scheduled seven open houses in 2022. The first was on May 14 and the last will be on November 5.

EA plans to expand its humane education program, hoping to reach as many children as possible. “I think it’s something that people don’t know about—how bad horses can be treated and how bad they are treated,” Caleb Jacobs said. “They should be treated like a dog and a cat. I think more people should know about it.” 

Marketing racing - the efforts being made by tracks across North America

By Ken Synder

At some point in time—70 years or so ago in the 1950s—the decision was made by the “powers that were” in horse racing to not broadcast races on the burgeoning medium of television. There was a fear that it would keep fans home watching racing on TV rather than at the racetrack. The decision, of course, backfired. On-track attendance diminished in a sport that had historically been part of a “Big Three,” which included baseball and boxing.   

In one of those strange twists of history, the decision also succeeded many years later in driving the biggest part of racing’s fan base to… guess what? Television. Today, TV networks like TVG broadcast racing from around the country, and even the world, to viewers at home with Advance Deposit Wagering accounts. 

Things, obviously, have changed and changed hugely. But some things haven’t. The following newspaper headline, provided by Aidan Butler, chief operating officer of 1/ST Racing and president of 1/ST Content, is as true then as it is now: “No young people come racing anymore.” When was it written? The 1930s.

Young people and equally, if not more importantly, new owners don’t “come racing anymore.”  

Ironically, television is the lifeline for the sport and perhaps the “tip of the spear” for bringing in those missing young people and new owners.

In 2019, at one of the sport’s major venues, Santa Anita, there were 13 racing fatalities on the dirt surface. This may have been the nadir for horse racing, threatening the very existence of the sport in California with potential effects rippling to racetracks across America and those involved in breeding and sales in Kentucky and Florida. But in a state with the most virulent cancel culture, Santa Anita—specifically the Stronach Group and 1/ST Racing—“canceled the cancelers.” In 2020, there were zero racing fatalities on the dirt surface.

What do animal welfare and safety have to do with marketing? It’s elementary: Marketing begins with a product. “The best thing we’ve got is the horses above anything else,” said Butler. 

“The world is changing. Do people want to be involved or watch a sport that involves animals? There’s not one group now that doesn’t have an outlook toward the animal welfare and the care of the animals to make it safer.” 

He offers a brutal assessment of the past, which may account for racing’s journey to some kind of abyss in 2019. “We’ve inherited an old-fashioned model where maybe it [safety] once wasn’t the core focus.” 

“The culture now in California, particularly at Santa Anita, is one that, if anything goes wrong, everybody is horrified. Everybody sees that there’s not going to be a future. For years, when something went wrong, it was an accepted thing.”

The safety of horse and rider is part of a big jigsaw puzzle, he said, but perhaps it is the most important piece in marketing a sport perceived negatively by many. He recalled a dinner in California with someone who visibly winced when informed Butler was part of the racing industry. “He said, ‘You’ve been having a lot of injured horses, right?’” Butler conceded that yes, that was the case in 2019 but then went through changes that produced dramatic improvements—most critically vet inspections during training hours—to get across that positive animal welfare, born out statistically at Santa Anita, has never been higher.  

“In 30 minutes, he couldn’t wait to come out to the track,” said Butler, adding with a laugh, “It’s going to take a long time to go through everybody in California over dinner.”

Of course, that’s where marketing in the traditional sense takes over, but not all in the traditional mediums of radio, TV and newspaper. For younger potential fans, “the first touchpoint these days is digital,” said David Wilson 1/ST’s chief marketing officer. “It’s on the iPhone or smartphone. Having strong social media is really our opportunity to cultivate our community, connect with them and inspire them to come to our tracks. 

“It’s about the convergence of sports, entertainment and technology.” Wilson believes the task is creating narratives and stories that will capture the imagination of potential younger fans who have had  little or no exposure to horse racing.  

Part of that too, according to Wilson, is marketing to younger fans in audiences not previously targeted. “We need to look at how we are addressing women in the sport. How are we addressing African-American and Latino communities? How are we making sure that any minorities have opportunities not only to work within our companies but to feel represented? We make very conscious efforts that if we want to be a modern company, we want to address all of our customers, and all of our customers are diverse. Our marketing and our social platforms and the inspiration between the sport and entertainment all need to reflect that.”

Traditional markets as well are being looked at in new ways. “Your owners bring other people. These are potentially new owners and it’s grassroots, but it is something that’s been overlooked.” 

To show appreciation to owners, all 1/ST race tracks make “best turned-out” awards every day—something routine in the UK and Ireland but novel in the U.S., except for major race days.  Champagne toasts after every win are also standard at tracks.   

“It’s so difficult, especially during some of the big meets, to get a winner; and you have to try and bend over backward to show the owners that you are really thankful for their participation,” said Butler.

For bettors and others who love horses or simply want a day at the races, one task for racing marketers is how do you add to weekday attendance on, say, a Wednesday afternoon at Gulfstream Park in the blazing summer heat? “There is really no easy answer,” Butler admits, but there is effort. Gulfstream is attracting people to the track for business lunches with food and beverages on par with the best restaurants and a backdrop the restaurants, of course, can’t offer: horses.  

Gulfstream is also exploring the engineering for lighting the racetrack for night racing, which should boost on-track attendance on those days that normally don’t draw a lot of fans while also beating the Florida heat.  

1/ST is not the only racetrack seeking enhanced owner-engagement and new fans, especially in the wake of COVID-19. Some tracks are also doing things to combat unique obstacles.

Canada’s Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto—the premier racing venue in Canada—is challenged by a dearth of owners. “We don’t have tax benefits for owners like you get in the States,” said Martha Wakeley, who manages horsemen concierge services and is also manager of Racing Operations. The biggest hindrance, however, is a population base generally without a family background in racing unlike the U.S., where racing is bequeathed to succeeding generations in places like Kentucky.

COVID, oddly enough, offered Woodbine an opportunity to evaluate the owner experience. Because COVID allowed only owners on track during lockdowns, management was able to see and define needs in hospitality and customer service that had, perhaps, gone unnoticed before. Wakely called it a “silver lining” that came out of the pandemic. “We opened an exclusive lounge just for owners and trainers and their guests,” she said, noting that most trainers at Woodbine are also owners.  

The goal with owners is to recognize their importance and to make them feel special. Part of that, too, is for guests of owners to see that their hosts and hostesses are very important to Woodbine. Wakely stated something that is obvious but still often overlooked: “Without the owners, we don’t have a job.” 

The track has invested much time and travel in marketing to owners as well as everyday race fans.  Hospitality teams from Woodbine have visited Santa Anita, Saratoga, Keeneland and Churchill Downs to study and replicate what works at U.S. tracks.

Woodbine may, however, exceed the U.S. customer experience with concierge services beyond the racetrack. “We have looked at groups coming in for stakes races and being available to book golf tee times and tickets to the theater,” said Wakely. “We want to be able to offer all that to make it a whole weekend experience.”

The experience at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky is well-known; it is the “Fenway Park” of American racing—the required destination for “racing as it was meant to be,” to quote a marketing theme from years back. It is arguably the most picturesque and bucolic in the world. It is also not lacking for patrons. In the last pre-COVID year, 2019, Keeneland’s daily attendance average was just over 15,000 for the spring/April meet and was slightly higher in the fall/October meet.

So what do you do when you don’t lack for owners and, most critically, racing fans? In the case of Keeneland, they have written the proverbial book on corporate sponsorships. Two sponsors, Toyota and Maker’s Mark bourbon, have surpassed 25 years with Keeneland. Two other sponsors—Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital and Darley—will reach the 20-year mark with Keeneland this year.

“Sponsorships are incredibly valuable to Keeneland, as they provide important funding for our racing purses, our investments in fan education, advancements in safety and integrity initiatives, philanthropic initiatives for our sport and the central Kentucky community…and the list goes on and on,” said Christa Marillia, Keeneland vice-president and chief marketing officer.

In Lexington, local horse farms like Claiborne Farm, Coolmore, and the aforementioned Darley also sponsor premier stakes races, essentially investing in their own industry. “They buy and sell horses at our auctions, compete on our racetrack, and understand and appreciate the full circle of Keeneland’s business model,” Marillia said.

NYRA & Fox Sports host and paddock analyst Maggue Wolfendale (L) with host and reporter Acacia Courtney (R)

In an irony of ironies, racing beyond Triple Crown races and the TVG network catering to ADW accountholders has made its way to national telecasts regularly.  “America’s Day at the Races,” produced by NYRA and airing on Fox network channels FS1 and FS2, features live racing on Saturdays and Sundays.  The impetus for NYRA was entry into the ADW market, a revenue stream already flowing for Twin Spires, Express Bet and TVG. “We really were playing catchup so we thought we needed a TV strategy,” said Tony Allevato, chief revenue officer for NYRA and president of NYRA Bets.

“Our original concept was we would pick up selected dates during the year and put them on Fox regional networks—Fox Sports West, Fox Sports Ohio. We put together a pilot and showed it to Fox. They loved it,” said Allevato. Instead of a regional strategy, however, the pilot spurred Fox to suggest a show on FS2, broadcasting nationally.  

The first production was a daily show from Saratoga, two hours a day and produced by NYRA’s TV department with input from Fox that amounted to 80 hours the first year.

“We got a fantastic reaction from the industry,” said Allevato. Broadcast hours were added, and Fox acquired equity with NYRA, which gave the network a slice of the ADW wagering. “We’ve provided an extra revenue stream for the telecast. Not only is there the traditional advertising and sponsorship revenue, but you also have wagering dollars coming in; and it’s become a win-win for both of us. For Fox, they’re incentivized to give us the most distribution possible.”

Distribution included the recent Arkansas Derby, broadcast on FS1 as part of “America’s Day.” “We have a couple of shows that will be on Fox [the main network] this year, which will be over a million viewers for each one of those. That’s more eyeballs watching horse racing, more wagering, more account signups, more fans. It’s really almost like we’re creating a new ecosystem to help grow the sport,” said Allevato.  

Growth is aimed at more than just ADW accounts, he added. “Even though the sport has really gone to online betting, our goal is to get people to come to the track. That’s our number-one goal. We believe once you come to the track, you will become a fan for life.”

“America’s Day” content is aimed at driving live attendance at racetracks. “The stories are all there:  Within every race, there’s an owner, there’s a trainer, there’s a jockey, there’s a groom, there’s the pace of the race, there’s the favorite.”

NYRA doesn’t forget marketing to owners either, according to Allevato. “One of the rules for our show is we must interview one owner at a minimum, and that doesn’t mean just for a million-dollar race; it can be for a ten-thousand dollar race. 

Allevato, too, points with pride to production values that rival, if not surpass, that of other sports. “When we’re covering a race in New York, we’ll have 35 cameras on a certain select day, compared to a college basketball game with seven cameras. That is a real big-time production.  

NYRA & Fox Sports TV analysts Andy Serling (L) and Anthony Stabile (R)

“With the Arkansas Derby, we had three people at Aqueduct contributing remotely and six announcers at Oaklawn Park.  

“We believe horse racing is our sport. We want people flipping through the channels, land on a Fox Sports 2 or FS1, see “America’s Day at the Races,” and go, ‘Wow, this is major league!’ We don’t ever want to come across as a second-tier product.”

Can all of this be “the start of something big,” to borrow from the song title? Combined with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act potentially providing central governance, successful marketing aimed at improving on-track owner-trainer-fan experiences, and NYRA’s venture into national television the impact, are promising. Can it take racing back to its preeminent days in the first half of the 20th century, when it was one of the three biggest sports in the land? There is more competition for sports fans than in the ‘50s.  

If “something big” isn’t starting, however, there’s a better-than-average chance racing may be in store for something bigger at least. 

International Travel

Traveling equines currently enjoy safer, more comfortable travels whether being hauled by truck or flying the friendly skies. However, due to unavoidable circumstances and worldwide government regulations, shipping companies, trainers and owners are road-weary and jet-lagged.

by Annie Lambert

Since terrorists attacked New York City on September 11, 2001, security measures on all forms of transportation have been stringent, especially for aircraft. The COVID-19 pandemic breaking out in late 2019 raised anxiety and stirred fears, adding even more government regulations to human and animal transport.

Whether you are shipping horses domestically across the United States, internationally to Europe and other far away destinations or between the European Union and Great Britain, nothing is easy. In fact, it has become a paper-heavy, logistical nightmare. 

Four-Footed Freight

H.E. “Tex” Sutton worked around the racetrack at an assortment of jobs from a very young age. He began booking horses to ship on railcars in 1954, continuing until prohibitive costs caused him to venture into equine air transport. Tex died long ago, but Tex Sutton Equine Air Transportation is still operating.

In May 2021, the company was unable to renew the lease on their Boeing 727 (cleverly dubbed Air Horse One). After searching unsuccessfully for another aircraft for their equine charters, the strictly domestic company was obliged to book their clients with Federal Express. FedEx bought out one of the original equine freight haulers, Flying Tiger, in 1988.

Airlines all gave the company’s current owner, Rob Clark, the same excuse: They simply didn’t have any extra planes. Any and all aircraft were needed to ship freight. The pandemic had caused a backup in supply chains by truck, sea and air.

“We are still flying as busy as ever,” pointed out Greg Otteson, Sutton sales manager. “We are in between [charter] airplanes right now, so we’re operating using the FedEx system.”

Supply chain woes have scrambled equine transport around the world. Throughout the pandemic, fewer passenger flights caused the freight cargo, normally in the belly of those planes, to be routed to freight-only carriers. The demand for cargo space remains very high.

Kevin Needham

Kevin Needham, managing director of BBA Shipping & Transport Ltd in Newmarket, England, has not noticed any waning demand in shipping horses worldwide. He has experienced many challenges in getting horses from Point A to Point B.

“It’s a definite pandemic consequence,” Needham explained. “Before COVID, people flew around the world really quite regularly and freely in wide-bodied passenger jets. When you’re on an airplane, you sit on the top part of a massive cigar tube; the area below is for freight—full of cargo.”

“When people couldn’t travel, the passenger flights couldn’t travel, [and] the cargo that went in the bellies of those passenger flights got over to the freighter network,” he added. “Flying horses relies on the freighter network because we need the headroom that’s on the main deck. With the complete shutdown in the passenger network, all that freight is going to the freight network.

“Plus, a lot of freight was pulled out of circulation by ridiculous government contracts being paid millions of dollars to fly 50 tons of rubber gloves from China to San Diego, [for example]. They are not in the marketplace, so all the freight rates went up. So, while the numbers of horses stayed relatively stable, the routes they were traveling and the costs to the owners became considerably more expensive.” 

Bus Route

Scarlette Gotwals, Brook Ledge

Brook Ledge Horse Transportation has been hauling equines around the United States for more than 55 years. Scarlette Gotwals, DVM, their operations manager, now oversees domestic and international air flights in addition to ground trucking via their wholly owned subsidiary, Horse America.

Brook Ledge Horse Transportation has been hauling Equines around the USA for 55 years

Brook Ledge began using FedEx in 2016. They ship an elite clientele, including many horses on the Kentucky Derby trail, often one or two horses at a time. Unless there are enough horses to charter an entire plane, the equines go where the plane goes, not the other way around. There are few, if any, direct flights.

“FedEx has a published route list,” Gotwals explained. “It is like a bus schedule; you can’t pick your time or route. You have to go when their schedule goes. For example, Tex Sutton [charters] could fly into Ocala Airfield, right next to Ocala Breeders’ Sale, but the closest FedEx [destination] is Orlando [80 miles away].”

 These rigid schedules force equine transporters to be creative when planning travel. Finding trips with minimal highway trucking, pre- and post-flight, can be a challenge.

“If you want to go from Gulfstream [Florida] to Oaklawn Park [Arkansas] to run, you basically fly to Memphis, then truck the three hours down to Oaklawn,” Gotwals said. “If you want to go to Belmont [New York], the plane lands in Newark, New Jersey, [over 40 miles away].”

Canada has not reopened to U.S. flights post-pandemic as yet, so Gotwals pointed out horses first fly into airports near the border, then have an initial three-day quarantine, get Canadian papers and finish the trip by truck.

Otteson qualified that Tex Sutton horses going to Vancouver fly into Seattle; those heading to Calgary fly into Great Falls, Montana; and horses traveling to Toronto usually fly into Detroit or Buffalo.

The good news, according to Dr. Gotwals, is how improved ground-trucking horses has become. A lot more is known in keeping horses comfortable and healthy over long hauls. Brook Ledge has transported horses in box stalls from Ocala to California for a number of years. 

“When air flights started,” the veterinarian remarked, “we were not as advanced as to how we handled horses on the trucks.” “We’ve learned a lot and there have been published studies. For example, horses do much better when they are loose in a box and able to put their heads down.”

Paperwork Chaos 

James Luck

James Luck, the brother of NBC racing analyst Nick Luck, is a co-founder of LG Bloodstock along with partner Lucy Greayer in Berkshire, England. Luck identified a shortage of aircraft and fewer straight-through flights to the United States, but cited his biggest problems presently stem from inter-European travel. Great Britain’s break from the European Union created massive regulation and paperwork.

“With the UK no longer part of the EU, you can’t get anything done over here; it’s ten times as hard as it used to be,” Luck stated. “We have literally ten times as much paperwork as we used to have.

“At the moment, if we want to schedule horses on a flight to New York, we have to truck them from the UK to Liege, Belgium, for a flight to JFK. In the old days, that was a[n] EU paper, one piece of paper to get us to Belgium, and U.S. papers. We stable overnight in Belgium, and off we go. It is now a total of 64 pieces of paper to get that horse to Belgium.”

There are also border control posts and an extensive number of tariffs, taxes and fees when moving goods, including livestock, in and out of the UK. Some of these fees, depending on the owner’s status, would be refunded upon return—not to mention veterinary inspections. As Luck said, “The bureaucracy of the paperwork is unbelievable.”

The stacks of documentation required has doubled Luck’s staffing levels since BREXIT. 

“The paperwork all this entails is mind-boggling,” he reiterated. “The bureaucracy and red tape has gone up 20-fold. It is making anyone’s job very, very difficult. And, if a horse gets to [the border check] and there is one digit wrong on one microchip number on 64 pieces of paper, the vet will send that horse home, back to the UK.”

Needham agrees with Luck’s contempt for the added paperwork.

“[BREXIT] made for more paperwork on the European end,” he acknowledged. “They started to treat the UK as if it were the U.S. or Canada. We’ve become a sort of foreign country as far as the EU is concerned.”

Flying Grooms

Needham also cited the COVI pandemic as a source for many of his shipping woes. Different governments panicked in different ways, many with differing restrictions. Equine handlers, called “flying grooms,” became stigmatized by nationality.

“There wasn’t a problem with the horses; it was the problem with the people accompanying the horses,” he noted. “We have this ridiculous situation where, if you have a U.S. passport, you can get into the U.S.; but if you had any other passport, obviously you were a COVID risk, because holding a piece of paper in your hand affects the way a virus can infect you. 

“The freighters have to come over with U.S. grooms with the horses, and then the grooms go back to the states. It is a similar situation when flying horses to Hong Kong. Because Hong Kong is now a part of China, it has a zero COVID policy. Foreign people aren’t allowed in, even airline pilots, without two weeks in quarantine. The grooms have to go in on the plane, the horses get off, then the grooms come back out on the same plane they went in on.”

Needham mentioned that Korean International races have been lost because South Korea is another country that has gone with zero COVID regulations. He doesn’t hold much hope that international shipping will ever get back to the days when things were easier to organize.

“In Ireland, France and the UK, we’re racing quite normally and have been for a good while,” he said. “I think that situation is going to stabilize quite quickly. There were plenty of horses in the [2021] Breeders’ Cup. Getting horses to North America is no more complex than it was, and there is an appetite for it.”

Horses must fly in the accompaniment of FedEx-approved flying grooms. Getting approved is a lengthy, in-depth process. The airline requires a minimum of two grooms, whether you are shipping one horse or nine, according to Gotwals.

“The flight grooms that we use have been flying for probably 30 years and are professional handlers,” Gotwals said. “It is about a six- to eight-week process to have a flying groom approved. They have to have an expensive security threat assessment, which is a TSA high-level clearance with background and criminal checks. Unless you have a specific groom that is going to fly with horses three to four times a year, FedEx is not interested in getting them approved.” 

Flight Plan

Horsemen and shipping companies continue to plow through paperwork, staff COVID testing and route changes. Other big hits to equine travel plans, however, are inflation and the rapidly rising fuel prices worldwide.

Gotwals opined that she couldn’t imagine it will be long before FedEx adds a fuel surcharge, especially if oil remains over $100 per barrel.

“Everybody is having to add surcharges,” she said. “A tractor-trailer gets five to five-and-a-half-miles to the gallon. When you start to increase prices by a dollar to three dollars a gallon, it means every five miles is an additional three dollars. It adds up very quickly.”

Luck has navigated the pandemic changes but now winces at the energy crisis enveloping Europe.

“The clients are being hit by another whammy, in that fuel prices are going through the roof,” Luck said. “It is literally costing me double to fill up my car. It’s the same with aircraft; it is costing a lot more to purchase aviation fuel. Therefore, it is costing a lot more to fly horses. We’ve recently been hit by every airline we use with substantial rate increases across the board.

Shipping companies seem to agree that demanding regulations and rising costs could somewhat chill equine movement. They also agree it is essential to Thoroughbred racing that equines remain mobile.

“We are a resilient industry,” Luck opined. “We’ve been through a lot of things. I remember after the terrible events of 9/11, we had horses stuck in the UK; it was an awful long time before we could get those horses going again. We’ve been through disease outbreaks and more. But fundamentally, horses will still need to be moved.”

Where are they now? Where are trainers, who once called Arlington Park their summer home, going?

By Ken Snyder

In real estate, there’s an old saying that the three most important factors are location, location, location. It has become a factor in horse racing too, at least in the Midwest. For last year’s Arlington trainers, the search for the right race, however, is not to be found in a condition book but on a map. Trainers Chris Davis and Larry Rivelli are part of the involuntary exodus from the now-closed Chicago racing institution. 

Five years ago, Davis, then stabled at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky and racing in one of the country’s toughest meets in April and October, met with his owners with what turned out to be a sound idea: move their horses to Arlington. “You have to put your horses where they can win,” he told them.

The move worked. Davis’s stable progressed to finish in the top five in earnings the past two meets at Arlington.

Today, ironically, Davis was back in Lexington this spring in the wake of Arlington’s closing, stabling again at Keeneland. If earnings are any indication, Davis is better prepared to take on the top horses and trainers at the prestigious spring and fall meets at Keeneland. Last year, his earnings surpassed $1.3 million. “The talent level in my barn is significantly higher than it was five years ago; there’s no question.  And I have more liberty about where I run them.”

For Rivelli, who is moving to Hawthorne Race Course on Chicago’s south side, he was the perennial meet leader at Arlington in wins and earnings (nine straight titles through 2021). The loss of training and racing there is acute on an emotional level. 

“It was a beautiful facility…like going to a birthday party every day when you ran horses and won–such a great place to be.” On a professional level, that would mean birthday candles by the gross; his 230 starters last year at Arlington won at an astonishing 37% rate.

While Davis is, again, a Chicago native and also the son of parents who trained horses for over 30 years in the “Chicagoland” area, he is going home, if not professionally then personally. (He lives in Lexington.) Rivelli is adding 30+ miles to a daily commute. 

So where will other Arlington trainers go?

It is almost a certainty that some will make a move north to Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minnesota, thanks to incentives. Arlington trainers who raced in Illinois during 2021 or this year can earn a $1,000-bonus if they race in May and if they have not raced at Canterbury previously. That $1,000 is in addition to another $1,000 paid to all trainers—Canterbury veterans included—for May starts. Bonuses are on top of any purse money earned, and the meet starts May 18. 

Additionally, Canterbury is offering a travel loan program for up to $25,000 per owner or a maximum of $1,500 per horse. This is for stables shipping in from anywhere outside Minnesota. Loan and stall applications were due on April 4.

“Chicago familiarity would obviously draw more eyes to Canterbury Park’s product and hopefully increase exposure and wagering interest,” said Andrew Offerman, senior vice-president of operations at Canterbury.

For trainers, Offerman points to Canterbury’s turf course. “I think it is probably the best or as good of a turf course as you can find in the Midwest.

“If you’ve been competitive in Illinois, you should definitely be competitive in Minnesota,” he added.

Indiana Downs in Shelbyville near Indianapolis would seem to be a natural draw for Arlington trainers except for one critical factor: stalls. Chris Polzin, racing secretary, has 10 Arlington trainers coming in, but there isn’t room for more. Polzin had applications for stalls for 1,856 horses last year but only 1,150 stalls. 

“The trainers we’re getting from Arlington, I think, will have a positive effect on us. If they have better horses, we can fill better races…Ingrid Mason—those kinds of people,” he said. 

FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing in Collinsville in southern Illinois will certainly draw trainers as well with races (and bonuses) for Illinois-breds.

Chris Davis, a Chicago native and also the son of parents who trained horses for 30 years in the ‘Chicagoland’ area, he is going home. If not professionally, but personally (he lives in Lexington)

For Davis, the biggest loss from Arlington’s closing will be felt by owners. “The majority of my clients are from the Chicago area. They had a lot of fun going out to the races. They used to come to the races, come to the barn afterward and see their horses. They were hands-on and really enjoyed being around the barn atmosphere rather than just ‘Let me know when they’re running.’ 

“They took enjoyment bringing friends to the barn and saying, ‘This is my horse.’”

The closing of Arlington is a mixed bag for Rivelli. Hawthorne is “not as appealing to the eye but has purses this year bigger than Arlington’s, which were pretty significantly higher than they were last year.

“We’re going to be probably with the same company running for a lot more money. So, it’s not too bad. It’s just the actual facility itself and the memories of Arlington. We already miss it, and it’s not even time to be back there yet.” 

Rivelli’s decision was made for him, in part, by his barn help. “We wouldn’t have a problem going anywhere. It’s just that I’ve got help that’s been with me for 20 years. You hate to uproot them from their families and their houses and where they live; and everything gets to be tougher now.

“I’m fortunate to have great help. We’ve been together a long time, and that’s a big part of our success.”

With change being the one constant in life, Offerman thinks the closing of Arlington may not be the last major event to happen in the Midwest racing scene in the near future. “We have to see what happens in Chicago’s marketplace, what happens with their [Hawthorne’s] casino build-out, and what Hawthorne winds up doing,” he said. Included, too, in all the possible scenarios, is another racetrack being built in Chicago, according to Rivelli.

The one given that all parties agree on is that Arlington is irreplaceable.

“The grandstand itself is on par with any in the world, not just in the U.S.,” said Davis. 

Hawthorne Racecourse has increased purses, a larger horse population and the return of a spring stakes schedule this year

The recent announcement that Churchill Downs will host the “Arlington Million” in a special one-day event on August 13 this year is met with subdued interest by Davis. “It would be like moving the Santa Anita Derby to Gulfstream. It wouldn’t be the same kind of race,” he said. 

As for Arlington as a whole, he imagines how hometown Louisville trainers like Greg Foley, Brad Cox and Dale Romans would feel if Churchill Downs shut down. “It is absolutely a blow,” he said.

A long-held personal goal for Davis was to win the Arlington Million. He admits, however, he’d still love to win it, even at Churchill Downs.

The big winner in the Arlington closing is horse-van operators. Davis has plans to send some horses this year to Ellis Park for their summer meet, Churchill Downs (“if they’re good enough to run there”), and Indiana Downs.

Davis sees a similarity between Keeneland and a location on the mid-Atlantic racing circuit where trainers in, say, Maryland can pick and choose races at Laurel, Penn National, Charlestown, Mountaineer, and as far north as Monmouth. “With the money getting as good as it is in Kentucky and the option of running at multiple tracks within an hour, two hours, three hours, away, it’s a big draw for the Midwest.  You have the option to pick your races and cherry-pick the best spots. You’re not just tied to the toughest of the tough.”

He also will leave horses in South Florida, where he has been based this winter.  

Rivelli, too, has a small string earmarked for Keeneland this April. “I have 10 stalls there, and I’ll ship back and forth. It’s only a four-hour ship back to Hawthorne.”

Also based in South Florida in the winter, like Davis, Rivelli shipped some horses from there to Kentucky in March to get them acclimated to an unpredictable climate, much different from the high temperatures and humidity of South Florida.

It gets more complicated for Rivelli compared to Davis, due to Hawthorne closing after June 25 and not reopening until September 23. He will base operations at various times during the shutdown at Colonial Downs in Kent, Virginia; Churchill Downs; and Ellis Park in Henderson, Kentucky.

A rendering of what Hawthorne Racecourse will look like after the development project is complete

Staying at home at Hawthorne for Rivelli, even with the shutdown, has its advantages. “The purses at Hawthorne are bigger than Indiana, and the competition is going to be less. I’m not too proud to run at Hawthorne for $50,000 purses—believe me.”

Rivelli probably has the most reason for optimism given his domination at Arlington.  

“We breed a lot of Illinois-breds so we have bonuses. We should be ok,” he said, perhaps understanding things considerably.

There’s no question that going from The Bart—immortalized in a statue with John Henry at Million—to the Bears—Chicago’s woeful NFL team who bought Arlington—is a bitter pill to swallow for all in racing.

The only upside at racetracks from Minnesota to Kentucky to Florida will be barns better stocked with horses who normally would be at Arlington. But racing in the Midwest, and really everywhere in this country, won’t be the same.

Equality - How inclusive is racing?

Man o' War and groom Will Harbut with sportscatser Clem McCarthy

By Bill Heller

Gauging inclusiveness in Thoroughbred racing depends on where you look.

While backstretches are teeming with minority grooms, hotwalkers and exercise riders, there are few Black trainers and/or Black jockeys. Black owners are a small group, too. Black racing officials or Black people in racing’s front offices or upper management are as common as unicorns. 

Progress comes slowly.

In the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Classic, Uriah St. Lewis, a native of Trinidad, became the first Black trainer to start a horse in the 34-year-history of the Breeders’ Cup. His horse, Discreet Lover, finished eighth. “I’ve been all over the country,” the Parx-based, 64-year-old trainer said. “Being a Black man is tough. As a Black trainer, it’s hard.”

It used to be hard on Black owners. Greg Harbut, who has a rich family history in racing, knows.

His great grandfather, Will Harbut, was a racing celebrity as the groom of Man o’ War for more than 15 years, appearing with his great horse  on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. “It was very uncommon for an African-American man to receive that kind of notoriety,” Greg said. “What he did before Man o’ War was he broke and trained draft horses. Then he’d lease them out to African-American farmers. He became known as a horse whisperer. He was sought out by the Riddle family to work with Man o’ War because he was such a high-strung horse. He [Will] didn’t really go looking for a job. The job came looking for him. He was one of 10 children. Eight went to college and became professionals—very unheard of then. I’m very proud of him.”

Greg’s grandfather, Tom Harbut, was the groom of 1953 Kentucky Derby winner Dark Star. Yet in the 1962 Derby, he was not allowed to have his name in the track program as the owner of Touch Bar. And he wasn’t allowed to watch his horse finish 11th because the stands were for whites only. “He went to the grave very bitter about it,” Greg said.

But in the 2020 Kentucky Derby, Greg’s ownership group—The Scherr Boys—was listed as the owner of Necker Island in the track program. And Greg was allowed to see his horse—who was claimed for $100,000 2 ½ months earlier—finish ninth of 15. 

Kendrick Carmouche

In May, 2021, Kendrick Carmouche became the first Black jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby in eight years. Black riders dominated the early history of the Derby, winning 15 of the first 28 runnings before being shunned and forced to travel abroad to continue their careers. 

One can only marvel how Cheryl White, a Black woman, was able to win 226 races after becoming the first African-American female jockey in June 1971. She then became the first woman to serve as a California steward. 

In the first Kentucky Derby in 1875, 13 of the 15 horses were ridden by Black jockeys including Oliver Lewis, who rode the winner Aristides. Aristides was trained by Ansel Williamson, a legendary Black Hall of Fame trainer. The former slave also won the 1875 Belmont Stakes and the Travers Stakes in 1866 and 1873. He also trained the undefeated three-year-old champion male Norfolk and undefeated Asteroid.  

George Leonard III and California Angel

Last November, George Leonard III became the first American-born Black trainer to start a horse in the Breeders’ Cup's 37-year history. That he did so with California Angel, a filly he purchased for $5,550, is a testament to his horsemanship. However, there were erroneous published reports citing Leonard as the first Black trainer in the Breeders’ Cup. Uriah St. Lewis was. 

There is such a long way to go.

Asked about Black people in racing, New York trainer Charlie Baker, a native of Jamaica who has made a career at the toughest level of racing in the country, said, “It’s most definitely a small group. It’s been that way forever. I’m looking around. I see a lot of Black grooms, a lot of Black exercise riders, but no Black trainers. My dad worked as an exercise rider under Allen Jerkens. My dad was telling me that there were a lot of good Black horsemen who were grooms. It seemed like no one was getting promoted to be a trainer. No one was moving up the ladder.”

One who has, as an executive, is Najja Thompson, who worked for the New York Racing Association in the marketing department before being named the executive director of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders in December 2020. Asked if he sees himself as a pioneer, he said, “I want to help another person of color find a role. I don’t ever want to be comfortable being the only Black person in the room. When we talk about diversity and inclusion, we have to be very careful that it’s not just for show.”

Jason Wilson, who has frequently spoken at the annual Jockey Club’s Round Table in Saratoga Springs, has a unique perspective on that because he came into racing from a non-racing background and quickly worked his way up. After working for the Jockey Club, he served as president and chief operating officer for Equibase for six years. On March 19, 2021, he was named COO of 1/ST CONTENT, charged with developing content platforms for Thoroughbred racing for Belinda Stronach’s tracks. “It’s very much driven by Belinda’s vision of creating the modern racing entity,” he said. “How do you present the sport overall?”

After graduating from Princeton, UCLA Law School and Columbia Business School, he thought his future was in finance. “I was working on Wall Street in 2009, and I was looking into doing something different,” he said. “I was recruited into The Jockey Club through a headhunter in 2010. This was before Twitter. No iPads. Even the world we live in now didn’t really exist. But you could see it coming.”

How does racing fit into this new world? How does it become inclusive? Begin by being realistic. “If you open this magazine and start looking through the pages, you can come to your own conclusion,” Jason said. “There hasn’t been a part of my life not touched by racism. I don’t think racing is exclusive, but I think that racing hasn’t spent a lot of time trying to figure out what inclusion means.

“I go to places, and I’m the only African American there. There aren’t a lot, even in the pipeline. We’re trying to rectify that. It’s just a fact of life. I’ve worked in law firms, in investment banks. There are more African Americans in other businesses. It’s disappointing. There are a couple of things going on. These positions don’t turn over very much. There’s not an opportunity to even break in. And, frankly, we do a really bad job of bringing people outside the industry into the industry in general. Belinda has talked a lot about what it means to be a modern racing organization. Part of that is making sure you have an inclusive environment.”

Jason referred to the studies conducted by McKinsey & Company. “The 2011 study found that only 14 percent of the general public feels that racing was for “someone like me” compared to 74 percent for other sports,” Jason said. “For persons of color, that is reinforced when you walk into meetings, go to the track and see images in the media that are overwhelmingly predominantly white. We need to be international in our approach to address this dynamic.”

Subsequent McKinsey & Company’s reports in 2015, 2018 and 2020 document the plusses of inclusion: “Our latest report shows that the business case for diversity, equity and inclusion is stronger than ever. Taking a closer look at diversity winners reveals what can drive real progress.”

After studying more than 1,000 large companies in 15 countries, the report said, “The most diverse companies are now more likely than ever to outperform less diverse peers on profitability. The representation of ethnic minorities on United Kingdom and United States executive teams stood at only 13 percent in 2019—up from seven percent in 2014.”

Minorities in horseracing executive teams aren’t in the same zip code of 13 percent. Ditto for trainers, jockeys, owners and stewards. 

Uriah St. Lewis owns all 28 of his horses stabled at Parx, with his wife, Amanda and their 27-year-old son, Uriah Junior; they are strictly a family operation. “They both help me,” Uriah said. “She is a registered nurse and comes to the barn on weekends. My son finished college, but he was always dedicated like his mother. He and I never missed a day of school for life: perfect attendance.”

Uriah came to the United States when he was 15. He went to a computer school and fixed computers for tote companies in the late 1970s and early ‘80s. “I decided I wanted to be a trainer,” he said. “I went to Oklahoma and bought a farm.” He was lucky to run into a Black trainer, Robert Hayes. “He taught me everything,” Uriah said. “He had patience. I started from scratch. I stayed with him for two to three years, and I branched out on my own, starting in 1987. I thought it was easy. It looks easy until you have to do everything.”

He began training at Parx in 1989, and is still there. Roughly 15 years ago, he decided to stop training for other owners. “I decided if I’m going to make a mistake, I’ll make it myself,” he said.

Uriah St. Lewis Jr. & Uriah St. Lewis with Discreet Lover, ridden by Manny Franco, after winning the 2018 Jockey Club Gold Cup

He has become renowned for springing huge upsets in graded stakes. Discreet Lover earned his berth in the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Classic by winning the Gr. 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at odds of 45-1. More recently, his horse Forewarned won the Queens County Stakes at 42-1 last December 19th, then won the $150,000 Excelsior Handicap at 9-2 on April 2nd.  

“Our family sits down in the evenings and figures out where the horses are going next,” he said. “Sometimes we agree; sometimes we disagree; but it’s a family affair. It’s a lot of hard work, but it pays off.”

But only if there’s an opportunity to get into the game. “I think there’s been progress,” Charlie Baker said. “There are more guys coming in.”

After coming to America from Jamaica, Charlie began training at Finger Lakes in 1987. “I saw an opportunity to be a trainer there,” he said. “I got my training license in ’97. I stayed at Finger Lakes.”

In 2010, Charlie took a deep breath and headed for New York, where he has thrived. He recorded his 18th consecutive year of more than $1 million in earnings in 2021. His horses have made more than $37 million, and he’s recorded 1,747 victories off a gaudy 22 win percentage.

Yet he assumes nothing. “It’s always a grind, trying to get that horse, trying to achieve,” he said. “I’m always paying attention. It’s a tough business.”

He prefers no other. He relishes every trip to the winner’s circle. “It’s the greatest,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what race. You can win the cheapest race on the program, and it still feels good. A win is a win. A small win is just as important as a big one. It’s an uplifting feeling.”

George Leonard III, a native of  Louisiana, got that uplifting feeling at last year’s Breeders’ Cup despite California Angel’s 11th place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Filly. “It was a life-changing experience,” he said. “For me, it wasn’t about color; it was about watching my work come together. I enjoy racing. I’m thrilled to do it. I was treated like a king by everybody. I loved it. I can only hope I can get back there.”

The son of a trainer, he fell in love with horses when he was four or five. He now has a stable of 30, racing in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana and Ohio.

Asked about inclusion, he said, “I don’t think there’s a lot of prejudice in racing. A lot of people don’t get opportunities.”

He made the most of his: “I love what I do. It’s the only way I can work seven days a week, 365 days. I don’t feel like I’ve worked a day in my life. It’s hard work sometimes, but I love what I do.”

So does Greg Harbut, who is a realist but also an optimist, committed to making his world of racing more inclusive.

“Race relations in America are not great,” he said. “It’s no secret. We’ve made progress, but there’s so much work that still has to be done.”

He’s doing more than his share.

The native of Lexington worked as a teenager at WinStar, then got a job with trainer Tom Amoss the day after he graduated high school. “I didn’t have any experience,” Greg said. “I contacted several trainers. He was the one who got back to me. I was able to shadow him and his assistant. It was a great opportunity to get my hands on horses.”

Evangeline Downs jockeys, 1978

“The golden rule in my barn was and will always be, ‘if you take care of me, I’ll take care of you,’” Tom said. “My assistant, Shane Jolivette, is Black and he was with me for over 20 years before taking another job. In all my time in the Midwest, I’ve never seen anything that would suggest being Black, Asian or anything else has any bearing on a job position. Greg was a quality guy. He worked hard. He was smart. I was lucky to have him.”

Greg became the first Black person and one of only two to be accepted into the Godolphin Flying Start Program that specializes in international racing and breeding. 

Greg Harbut

He didn’t complete the program but returned to Lexington and created Harbut Bloodstock in 2010. He has enjoyed considerable success, but he wanted to do more.

With his partner, Ray Daniels, Greg began Living the Dream Stables in 2019 to promote minority owners. “It’s not exclusively minorities, but minorities are a majority,” Greg said.

Daniels, a Lexington, Kentucky-based entrepreneur and business and community leader, has spent 26 years in various corporate positions for Waffle House. He founded Equity Solutions Group in 2017 to focus on more inclusive opportunities for minority companies. Daniels put together the syndicate group for Necker Island, who is still going strongly as a five-year-old. He won an allowance race/optional $80,000 claimer at Oaklawn Park, February 21st—his sixth career victory in 21 starts with one second, four thirds and earnings topping $630,000. 

 In partnership with Agave Racing Stable, Living the Dream Stables have Miss Bigly, who finished second in the Gr. 1 Beholder Mile at Santa Anita March 5th. She has won eight of 27 career starts with four seconds, eight thirds and earnings of nearly $750,000.

In 2021, Greg and Ray established the Ed Brown Society to promote minority participation in Thoroughbred racing while honoring Hall of Famer Ed Brown. “He was sold on the courthouse steps as a slave,” Greg said. “He studied under Anson Williamson, one of the first Black trainers. Ed Brown went on to be a very prolific jockey, a very prolific trainer and a very successful owner with multiple champions—one of the wealthiest African-Americans in the country.”

Born in 1850, he became a Belmont Stakes winning jockey in 1876 with Kingfisher, a Kentucky Derby-winning trainer in 1877 with Baden-Baden and the owner of several top Thoroughbreds during the last decade of the 19th Century. He died in 1906.

Thanks to Greg, his name will live on by introducing young minority college students to Thoroughbred racing. On January 25th, the Ed Brown Society announced a unique partnership with 1/ST’s home track, Gulfstream Park. Two selected interns from the University of Kentucky were chosen as the first recipients of the program. “It’s time for a new generation to come in and lead the way and also to celebrate the rich history of African Americans in the sport,” 1/ST’s Vice President of Communications Tiffani Steer said.

1/ST committed $150,000 to the program, covering all costs for several years so selected students can have a paid internship within the racing industry. “I feel excited for the students,” Ray said.

The first two recipients, both equine science majors at the University of Kentucky, are Charles Churchill and Deja Robinson. “This is supposed to show other students, especially students of color, that there is a place for you in the industry,” Churchill said. Of the coincidence of his name and the track of that name, he said, “I think my personality adds to the name Churchill rather than Churchill Downs defining who I am.”

Other minority interns will be selected from other colleges and universities in coming years.

“This is a wonderful industry,” Greg said. “I’m very proud of this industry. A lot of minorities don’t know about racing. We want to change that narrative. Racing can be inclusive.”

Jason Wilson is working hand-in-hand with Greg and Roy not only with the Ed Brown Society but other programs, too. “It’s not just from an employee perspective,” Jason said. “How do we increase the number of owners? LTD (Living the Dream) Stables is doing hospitality at our events, providing tools for them to navigate around the racetrack and give them a positive experience. We want to make sure to do whatever we can. We want to do more for the Ed Brown Society.

“I spent a weekend with LTD at Santa Anita, and the amount of love that was shown to these guys was very impressive—from the fans, from the racetrack. It was wonderful to see. It was very much a family-feel. That’s the way it should be. It was heartening to see that level of support.”

Jason was asked what will happen if he is successful with all his objectives. “If I do my job tremendously well, North American racing will grow,” he said. “You will have a higher level of engagement across a broader fan base. You’ll have robust international distribution, an entertainment option that is comparable to other sports and other entertainment options.”

Will inclusion be better? The bar has been set so low, how could it not improve?

But real inclusion in all facets of racing remains a distant destination. 

Christopher Duncan, a native of Jamaica who ran in the Olympics and is only in his second full year of training in Florida, said, “I don’t really see many other Black trainers. It’s shocking. But it’s not too late. It’s never too late.” 

A 1864 painting by Edward Troye depicts Asteroid with trainer Ansel Williamson (R), unidenified groom, and jockey Edward Brown (L, kneeling)

Ocala - where preserving the past whilst developing for the future is a tricky proposition

By Bill Heller

In Ocala, the seat of Marion County in central Florida known as “Horse Capital of the World”—preserving the past while developing for the future—is a tricky proposition. There are land mines everywhere.

What seemed like a gigantic victory for preservation—the sale of part of a historic Thoroughbred farm to a horsewoman who has continued using the track and barns there—would have been overshadowed by the loss of an historic cemetery on another part of the farm. The 17 graves there included one of racing’s greatest champions, Dr. Fager, and the champion mare Ta Wee. An intervention by Thoroughbred owner, breeder and an admitted “history guy,” Arthur Roy, with considerable help from Tammy Gantt, the associate vice-president of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association, saved the site. “There are champions buried there,” Roy said. “That was a no-brainer.”

If a graveyard with Dr. Fager had been replaced by a housing development, wouldn’t that have been game over? 

Development 1, Thoroughbred history 0. Thankfully, it’s not.

Left uncertain is the fate of the house of Hall of Fame Trainer John Nerud, who trained Dr. Fager and Ta Wee on that very same farm when it was Tartan Farm. If that part of the property isn’t sold to a sympathetic buyer, and perhaps converted to a bed and breakfast, it will be lost—another relic bulldozed for progress.

This is Ocala and Marion County’s dilemma.

The sparkling, enormous year-old World Equestrian Center has brought all breeds of horses and global attention to both the city and county, but Thoroughbreds are their lifeblood with a rich history—one its owners, breeders and leaders are intent on preserving and celebrating.

The 193,000-acre farmland preservation area, established in 2005, and Horse Farms Forever, an association formed in 2018, is dedicated to preserving that area, to restrict development. Accordingly, not everyone is selling their farm to profit from Ocala’s meteoric transition from a sleepy village to a bustling city. Those farms range from Charlotte Weber’s massive 4,500-acre Live Oak to Lynne Boutte’s modest 35-acre Eagle View Farm. 

Gail Rice

Gail Rice breeds one or two mares every year at her daughter’s 18-acre farm. Rice bred 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit, and she is still recovering from the horse’s shocking death last year from a heart attack. “It’s so sad,” she said. “It hit me pretty hard.” Yet she remains passionate about preserving Thoroughbred farms. “This is our land,” she said. “This is what our horses need. We don’t need more houses.”

It takes a community to save the past.

Weber, who won the 2021 Acorn Preservation Award from Horse Farms Forever for “an individual who has made a significant contribution to the preservation of horse farms in Marion County,” knows what the alternative is: “Once you give it away, you never get it back.’”

One trip is all it takes to fall in love with Ocala and Marion County and their green splendor. A horse grazing in front of a circle of trees, perfectly happy in a natural habitat. Other horses run across expansive paddocks. Green everywhere. 

“Do you want to see green grass looking out your window or dust and bricks?” Weber asked. “Does it matter if horses walk on grass or walk on concrete? I like green grass. I like trees.”

In Marion County, the grass beneath horses is rich with limestone, providing much-needed calcium—an important mineral helping horses’ bone growth, maintenance and muscle function. Add in spring-fed water, warm winter weather, and it’s easy to see why horsemen flocked to central Florida to breed and train their horses. 

Carl Rose opened the first Thoroughbred farm in the county in 1939. Hundreds and hundreds have followed, helping Ocala to earn that moniker as Horse Capital of the World. When the phrase was first used, citizens in Lexington, Kentucky, protested. But the facts were clear that Marion County’s horse population—now 80,000 including more than 37,000 Thoroughbreds—is annually the largest in the country. That title for Ocala and Marion County was read into the Congressional Record in 1999, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture okayed its use in promotions using that label. And it’s true. According to the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association, there are more than 1,100 Thoroughbred farms and training centers in the county.

And Ocala and Marion County’s population are sky-rocketing. Ocala’s was 13,588 in 1960, 22,583 in 1970, 37,170 in 1980, 42,045 in 1990, 45,943 in 2000, 56,585 in 2010 and 61,810 last year. Marion County’s population jumped from 331,340 in 2010 to 375,908 in 2020.

Charlotte Weber has owned and managed the 4500 acre Live Oak Stud for over 50 years

“I got here in 1968; it’s just not the same place,” Weber said. “It just exploded. It frightens me. Every time I pick up the newspaper, 10,000 homes here, 10,000 at another place. It’s not a rural community anymore. I’m not opposed to change, but I don’t think it’s been well thought out. I support Horse Farms Forever, but I think that it wasn’t formed soon enough.”

Her friend and former neighbor, Wanda Hooper Quigley, who ran Hooper Farm with her husband Fred from 1970 through 2000, agreed. Asked if Ocala has changed, she said, “Oh my God; it’s overwhelming. I wish the forefathers had paid attention to development. I wish everything hadn’t been built.”

Lynne Boutte experienced culture shock when she moved from Long Island, where she’d been working at Belmont Park, to Ocala in 1980. “They used to call it ‘Slow Cala,’” she said. “There was nothing in Ocala. Three traffic lights. I was living in a room on a farm. I picked up a phone, and it was a party line. There were three TV stations, and they all went off at 10 p.m. I walked everywhere. I miss ‘Slow Cala’ and the camaraderie back then. Everybody was for everybody. There were so many moms and pops in the ‘80s and the ‘90s. The moms and pops can’t afford it anymore.”

George Isaacs, the general manager of Bridlewood farm, moved to Ocala in 1989

George Isaacs, the general manager of John and Linda Malone’s Bridlewood Farm, moved to Ocala in 1989. He then worked for Allen Paulsen, returning to Ocala in 1996 for the Malones, the largest landowners in the United States. “When I moved to Ocala in 1989, it was very, very rural and extremely agriculturally focused,” he said. “There were large farms including Mockingbird, Tartan Farm, Hooper Farm—a who’s who of some of the top owners and breeders. They enjoyed racing their own horses. They bred mares to their own stallions. They had training operations on their farm. That was racing as it is meant to be. I don’t know if we're ever going to see that again.”

Isaacs is charged with making sure they are remembered. He is the chairman of a Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association Committee to install a Thoroughbred Walk of Fame in downtown Ocala. Two of the dozen horses to be honored are Dr. Fager and Ta Wee. The others are Needles, Florida’s first Kentucky Derby winner in 1956, Carry Back, Susan’s Girl, Desert Vixen, Foolish Pleasure, 1978 Triple Crown Champion Affirmed, Precisionist, Holy Bull, Skip Away and Silver Charm. “We started with the ones who are obvious,” Isaacs said. “Covid has obviously slowed down a lot of things. It’s probably going to be a little while.” 

What will Ocala be like in a little while? “We understand the passion of people who feel that there should be no growth, but that’s not realistic,” said Lonny Powell, the CEO of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association. “Thank God, we have the preservation act. You can’t let history be forgotten. I’m not in this game for the short play. I’m a lifer. To me, I wouldn't have done my job if we didn’t protect the Thoroughbred industry.”

Thoroughbreds touch so many lives in Ocala now: the Ocala Breeders Sales, hundreds of training centers, the Florida Horse Park, horse shows, farm tours, horse retirement farms, the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association’s Museum and Gallery, and a brand-new after-care facility. On January 10th, the New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program announced it has opened a satellite facility in Anthony, less than eight miles north of Ocala. 

Visitors to Ocala have a huge choice in lodging in Ocala, from the magnificent hotel rivalling the Waldorf Astoria at the World Equestrian Center to the quaint Equus Inn, where rooms feature walls of black and white horse photos.

More and more visitors are going to be coming.

To preserve at least part of the land in 2005, the Marion County Commission created the Marion County Farmland Preservation Area, protecting nearly 200,000 acres, to “provide a buffer for farmland against increasing growth” and “serve as a major recharge area which strains rainwater that feeds into both Rainbow and Silver Springs.”

Horse Farms Forever was created in 2018 after the Florida Department of Transportation announced a plan to put a toll road through the heart of Marion County horse country. In an article in the January 2022 issue of the Blood-Horse, Isaacs, a board member of Horse Farms Forever, said, “I have never witnessed in all my years here a single issue that drew the entire community together so quickly to eliminate a potentially devastating threat that would have destroyed the beauty and economic value of many of our farms.”

For the last three-plus years, Horse Farms Forever has partnered with the Alachua Conservation Trust, which contributed a $20,000 grant to implement conservation easements and permanently protect farmland and provide environmental benefits by maintaining a wildlife habitat and protecting water quality that would be significantly impacted by heavy development. 

The cause has been championed by Bridlewood Farm’s owners John and Leslie Malone, who was presented the 2021 Robert N. Clay Conservation Award. The Malones, who own more than two million acres in the country, purchased Bridlewood Farm in 2013 for $14 million. The farm’s 800 acres have grown to 2,200. “Anytime Mr. Malone buys a property he really likes, when land contiguous to it becomes available, he likes to buy it,” Isaacs told Blood-Horse. “Mr. Malone is a conservationist who wants to preserve and protect land for future generations. He’s a capitalist at heart who believes in owning things that are sustainable. He’s not a developer. He has never sold an acre of the land he’s bought.”

Others have. Others will.  

Is it ironic or cruel that a development project in Ocala which replaced the iconic Bonnie Heath Farm, the home of Needles, is called the Paddock Mall? Opened in 1980, the enclosed shopping area was anchored by J.C. Penney, Macy’s and Belk.

Other nearby farms and farmland are now retail development and houses. 

Then there is Winding Oaks, which encompasses both Tartan Farm and Harry Mangurian Jr.’s Mockingbird Farm.

In November, 1960, owner William McKnight purchased the Bonnie Heath Farm and its 320 acres. McKnight made millions—thanks to the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co., 3M, which made Scotch Tape and Post-It Notes household necessities. 3M’s red plaid symbol became the colors of McKnight’s silks when he started Tartan Farm. A year earlier, he had the good fortune of hiring John Nerud. A string of champions followed, none more spectacular than Dr. Fager, who won four championships (Handicap, Grass, Sprint and Horse of Year) in 1968 and set the still-standing dirt-mile record of 1:32 1/5 while carrying 134 pounds at Washington Park. He won 18 of his 22 starts with two seconds and one third, earning more than $1 million. Ta Wee, Intentionally, Aspidistra, Codex and Dark Mirage joined Dr. Fager in the Tartan cemetery. 

In 1970, Harry Mangurian Jr.  purchased Tartan Farm, renamed it Mockingbird Farm and raced such stars as Valid Appeal, also buried at the cemetery.

Mangurian Farm had grown to 1,000 acres when he sold it to Eugene Melnyk in 2001, who renamed the farm Winding Oaks. At the time, Melnyk said, “We have gotten letters from people in the community saying how grateful they are for us keeping this a farm and not selling it for commercial development. I’m committed, as long as I’m around in the horse business, to keep it as a working farm.”

He and his wife Laura generated enormous success in racing, at one time owning nearly 500 horses, including more than 160 broodmares. They campaigned 2004 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Speightstown and graded stakes winners Graeme Hall, Harmony Lodge, Strong Hope and Host.

In 2014, Melnyk decided to get out of the horse business. He wanted at least part of his property to continue as a horse farm, and in December 2019, he sold 178 acres to Becky Thomas, a native of Florida who had enjoyed considerable success in New York State, for a reported $6.25 million. She added 46 acres the following year and is thrilled to be running her stable, Sequel at Winding Oaks, on the track Melnyk rebuilt there: a one-mile dirt oval with an interior 7/8ths turf course. “It’s unlike any track in Marion County,” she told Showcaseocala.com. “You could run a race meet there. Mr. Melnyk put in a lot of money to build it right.”

Melnyk intended to develop the rest of the property under his company Cradle Holdings. The plan calls for 2,068 single-family homes and 1,080 multi-family units and commercial development.

Arthur Roy heard about it in September 2020. “They notified all the abutters,” he said. “We happen to live 500 feet from Winding Oaks Farm. He had already sold the training center, and the rest of the farm is going to be houses.”

In a Zoom meeting, Roy, who happens to be on the board of the Winthrop Maine Historical Society, raised his hand, then said, “I'm not opposed to development, but I mentioned there’s a horse cemetery there with several champions including Dr. Fager and Ta Wee. They said they’d heard there were a few. Then they said, `Let’s talk.’”

Roy described the cemetery: “There were 17 graves in a horseshoe pattern. It’s like a big circle of land, and behind that, a gazebo. It’s a beautiful location. It’s the highest peak of the farm. I sent a letter.”

Melnyk stepped up and did the right thing. “He said they will keep it,” Roy said. “They will add parking spots. The FTBOA will work on the signage about the importance of the location. That happened within a couple of months.”

Case closed. Almost.

Nerud’s house, 100 yards from the cemetery, was not spared. “They were going to demolish it,” Roy said. “Last April, we had a meeting, and what they agreed to do was to make that area part of an estate, and instead of tearing down the house, try to sell it. I asked for the price, but they said it’s not for sale.”

Talk about mixed signals.

John Nerud

“So far, I’ve been very happy with the developers,” Roy said. “We preserved the cemetery. We’re trying to save the house. I want to preserve it because of one guy, John Nerud. He was one of a group of gentlemen that were important in bringing Thoroughbred training and breeding into Florida. I’m from New England. I get excited if I see a sign saying, `George Washington slept here.’ He started the Breeders’ Cup. He trained champions. You have to try to save it for future generations.”

Roy thinks Nerud’s house could be converted into a bed and breakfast. He’s cautiously optimistic the house will be saved. But even if it is, he has this gnawing question: “Being a horseman, an owner and a breeder, I’m wondering how many other places have been demolished in Ocala because of development.”

Lynne Boutte knows one way to slow development: “My farm’s in a very unique area up here. It’s not for sale.”

Gail Rice put it this way: “It’s about money and money talks; but what’s important is peaceful living and having this land to raise our horses. Without green, what do you have?”

When Payday turns to 'Someday' - Getting paid for your work as a trainer

By Peter J. Sacopulos

Recent lawsuits are shining a light on one of Thoroughbred racing’s ongoing problems: owners who do not pay their bills. Trainers often top the list of those who get stiffed. What can you do to protect your business and help ensure you are paid for your services? And what are your options when a client does not pay?

A trainer’s dream

Growing up on a farm in Indiana, Frank seemed to have been born with a knack for horses. By his mid-twenties, he had begun training Thoroughbreds and was looking for clients he could build a business on. Walter, an investment banker from Indianapolis who loves racing, purchased a promising Thoroughbred named Rocketastic and needed a trainer. Walter had heard good things about Frank, and after watching “the kid” work with a horse at the track, a deal was struck. 

Frank agreed to train Rocketastic for $100 a day, or $3,000 a month. This amount included the cost of feeding and stabling the horse in Frank’s small barn. The men shook hands, and Frank trailered the horse home. Rocketastic chalked up impressive fractions and earned his gate card. Official works were logged and approved. The owner and trainer agreed that three or four starts during the two-year-old season seemed reasonable. Walter mailed Frank a check at the end of every month to pay for training and expenses during the previous 30 days.

Rocketastic had the makings of a real contender. But early in the season, the horse suffered disappointing starts. Adding to Frank and Walter’s frustrations, the local racing secretary repeatedly wrote races that kept Rocketastic off the track on race day

The money stops

Frank was confident it would all work out. But by late August, he had not received payment for his work in July. Frank felt certain this was an oversight on Walter’s part. After all, he and Walter shared a good working relationship and a common goal. Frank understood that Rocketastic was not earning his keep, but Walter appeared to have plenty of money to cover costs. The owner was well dressed, sported a Rolex watch and drove a Porsche. He lived in a beautiful home in a gated community, and his children attended expensive private schools. 

When Frank called Walter about the lack of payment, the owner assured him that a check was already on the way. Frank continued to train Rocketastic, but by mid-September, neither the July nor the August payments had arrived. Frank again called Walter, who insisted there must be a problem with the mail. Frank grew skeptical after his local postmaster told him there had been no complaints of lost or stolen mail. Soon Frank’s calls to his client went unanswered and unreturned. Voicemails, emails and texts were ignored as well. 

Still, Frank was reluctant to give up on a promising horse, or the promises of its owner. By early November, Walter owed him over $13,000 in back pay and expenses. The lack of cashflow put tremendous stress on Frank’s business and his marriage. He did not know what to do or where to turn.

A recurring problem

The situation I have described is hypothetical, but it is based on numerous real-life complaints that I have heard from clients and potential clients. The fact that some owners do not pay their bills is a serious industry issue. It is known all too well by many who work in the industry. Anyone who thinks this is simply the result of trainers who lack business sense working with owners who lack horse sense should think again. Recently, the racing press has been filled with articles covering cases currently winding their way through the courts. Details vary, but the bottom line is the same: Trainers are not getting paid for their work. 

In this article, I will review high-profile cases and offer some pointers to help you avoid payment problems. I will also explore the options available when a client is unwilling to pay.

The Ramsey lawsuits

In March of this year, owner/breeders Ken and Sarah Ramsey were hit with back-to-back lawsuits. Each was filed on behalf of a trainer who claimed to be owed nearly $1 million in unpaid bills. The Ramseys are well-known Thoroughbred breeders and owners, with an impressive string of victories and a shelf full of Eclipse Awards to show for their efforts. 

Yet trainer Mike Maker’s suit alleged that the Ramseys had been behind on their training bills for years and owed him over $900,000. Another trainer, Wesley Ward, claimed the Ramseys owed him over $970,000 in unpaid bills, percentages of winnings and accumulated interest. Like Maker, Ward acknowledged that the Ramseys had paid some of their tab but alleged that the balance due had been in the high six figures for months and continued to grow.

Initially, it appeared these matters would be resolved out of court. Ken Ramsey told reporters that he had some cash flow problems but intended to pay both trainers. Unfortunately, Mike Maker’s legal team was back in court in July, claiming that the Ramseys failed to meet the agreed-upon payment schedule. In early August, Wesley Ward’s attorneys filed for summary judgement, stating that all payments from the Ramseys had ceased. 

Wesley Ward is another trainer to sue the Ramseys this year for allegedly failing to pay board and training bills

The Ramseys’ response revealed a major change in strategy. BloodHorse.com reported that the Ramseys’ new filing stated that there was no written agreement between Ward and the Ramseys on a day rate, what horses a rate should be applied to, or terms of payment. The filing also claimed that Ward had refused the Ramseys’ request to return 30 of their horses, and argued a potential lien on the animals would conflict with other statutes governing lawsuits in Kentucky. The filing also requested time to prepare a countersuit against Ward. As of this writing, it appears that all parties involved in both suits could be facing long, complicated legal battles.

Zayat’s legal woes

Meanwhile, a painful example of a long, complicated Thoroughbred legal battle continues to play out in the courts. At its center is Egyptian-born, Triple-Crown-winning owner Ahmed Zayat. Zayat, who founded and operated Zayat Stables, is the kind of larger-than-life character that racing enthusiasts love. Or love to hate. In 2015, the year American Pharaoh delivered Zayat Stables’ Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup triumphs, Joe Drape of The New York Times described Ahmed Zayat as “flamboyant” and “controversial.”

Zayat made his fortune when his investment group bought, modernized and sold an Egyptian beverage company. He then set out to build a world-class Thoroughbred operation. Zayat spent big and enjoyed major successes, but he was sued by Fifth Third Bank in 2009 over an alleged $34 million in unpaid loans. He filed a countersuit, claiming the bank had engaged in predatory lending practices. Zayat Stables filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, allowing the company to continue doing business while attempting to deal with its debts. Legal proceedings soon revealed that Zayat owed significant sums to a number of creditors, including a total of $148,798 to trainers.

Ahmed Zayat and Mr Z at Churchill Downs 2015

Zayat Stables eventually came to terms with its creditors, including Fifth Third Bank. It emerged from bankruptcy and rode to glory with American Pharoah, among others. Then, in January 2020, history repeated. MGG Investments filed a lawsuit against Zayat Stables and Zayat family members, alleging the Thoroughbred operation had failed to pay back $23 million of a $30-million loan. Zayat filed a countersuit, alleging he was the victim of a predatory lender acting in bad faith, as he had done in 2015.

Accusations and allegations fly

Zayat’s ongoing legal struggles have taken many twists and turns, but I will do my best to summarize. MGG expanded its lawsuit, alleging that Zayat had conspired with family members and others to hide money and distort the value of assets, including horses and breeding rights. MGG also claimed that Zayat had sold assets that were to serve as collateral for its loan. A judge appointed a receiver to take control of Zayat Stables’ finances. Court proceedings again revealed a long list of unpaid bills, and some of Zayat’s many creditors filed legal actions of their own. 

In June 2020, a Kentucky judge ruled that Zayat owed MGG some $24.5 million in loan payments and interest, and dismissed many elements of Zayat’s countersuit. The judge also dismissed MGG’s claims against industry professionals who had done deals with Zayat Stables, but ruled that MGG could move forward with a fraud claim against Zayat. Ahmed Zayat filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in September 2020. Most of his company’s assets, including Thoroughbreds, were auctioned off by the end of the year. This summer, Zayat’s bankruptcy attorney asked to be allowed to withdraw from the proceedings, claiming his client had racked up nearly $370,000 in unpaid legal bills.

Zayat Stables’ legal problems also revealed that the operation had run up a total of over $1.5 million in debts to a who’s who of Thoroughbred trainers, including Bob Baffert, Brad Cox, Mike Maker, Richard Baltas, Steve Asmussen, Todd Pletcher and Rudy Rodriquez. 

An ounce of prevention? 

As these events attest, there is no foolproof way to determine whether a client will pay a trainer. But there are some things you can do to protect yourself. Ideally, a trainer and an owner would sign a written contract detailing their arrangement, including the number of horses to be trained, the trainer’s day rate, terms of payment, etc. Written contracts benefit and protect both service providers and their clients, and are accepted as routine in most industries. Horse racing, however, is a notable exception.

Andrew Mollica has worked as racing official, broadcaster and an agent for top jockeys, among other things. In his forties, Mollica returned to college to earn a law degree. Based in New York, he currently practices law, with an emphasis on equine law. Mentioning contracts to Mollica draws a quick response. “I’ve worked in racing for nearly 45 years,” Mollica says, “and I’ve never seen one—not any kind of written agreement between an owner and a trainer. They don’t seem to exist!” 

Mollica’s not sure what an owner would do if a trainer asked for a written contract, or vice versa. Not that he thinks many would. “American Thoroughbred racing is a 21st-century industry run like an 18th-century enterprise. So much is done on handshake deals. Good or bad, that’s the way it is,” he says.

As an equine attorney and Thoroughbred owner myself, I know that suggesting you create a simple contract for your services and ask your clients to sign it may cause you to roll your eyes in disbelief. But it is still a good idea. Contracts can be awkward to ask for upfront, but they make all the difference when things go wrong. That is why the phrase “get it in writing” remains a business staple. 

If you do not have a contract, consider sending a follow-up letter or email to your client that outlines your understanding of the terms of your verbal agreement. If the owner thinks you have misunderstood the deal, he or she will likely respond regarding the areas in question. If there are differences, once those differences are resolved, I suggest sending an additional letter or email that documents exactly the agreed upon terms.

The upfront approach

Of course, you should always keep accurate records of your working hours and expenses. You should also consider requesting to be paid upfront. In the event you are training horses on a monthly payment schedule, request payment. If payment problems arise, you will know from the get-go. If you are not comfortable requesting the full amount in advance, consider requesting expenses for care and feeding. That can go a long way towards a solid cash flow. 

If you are concerned about entering a business relationship with an individual, you may conduct an online background check. Many reliable companies provide this service at a reasonable price, including Intelius, TruthFinder, BeenVerified, and others. A standard “people search” will typically review public records from the last seven years, should report any bankruptcies or criminal convictions, and does not require you to obtain permission of the person in question under current U.S. law. 

You may also consider conducting a credit check online. But be aware that credit checks are governed by strict federal regulations, as well as applicable state laws. In the United States, you must obtain written permission from the individual whose credit report you are requesting, among other requirements. You cannot legally conduct a “secret” credit check.

Remedies for unpaid bills

In the event the client/owner refuses to pay, what are your options? When this happens, act sooner rather than later, and document your communications with the client regarding the matter. Keep a written phone log listing calls and texts, save all emails, and keep copies of anything sent by mail. Once you have made a reasonable effort to get paid, contact an attorney, preferably one with equine experience. 

Every case is different, but here are some likely scenarios. Your attorney will contact the client, requesting the debt be paid to avoid legal proceedings. This alone may result in payment. Or it may result in acknowledgment of the monies owed and a negotiated payment schedule. If you are in possession of the horse (or horses), you will have to continue caring for and feeding the animal(s). Though this will increase the amount of expenses you are owed, you cannot simply neglect the horse. However, whether or not you continue to train the horse is your decision, and I suggest you make that decision with the help of your attorney.

Lawyers, liens and money 

If the owner refuses to make a good-faith effort to resolve the matter, and the horse is in your possession, your attorney will likely file for a lien. This powerful legal tool allows you to retain the horse as collateral until the debt is paid and retain or sell the horse if it is not. The specific term for this type of lien varies from state to state. It is commonly known as an agister’s lien, a stableman’s lien or a liveryman’s lien. The rules and regulations governing these liens vary by state, and it is important that you work with an experienced attorney when attempting to attain such a lien.

Obtaining an agister’s lien is a multi-step process. “If the horse is in your possession, and it’s worth more than the debt, you will get paid,” Andrew Mollica says. “But you have to follow the process.”

American Revolutionary War hero James Lawrence shouted, “Don’t give up the ship!” when the British attempted to board his vessel. “Don’t give up the horse!” is Andrew Mollica’s remarkably similar battle cry for trainers dealing with unpaid bills. Good advice, because in most states, if you return the animal to the owner or turn it over to officials, you may surrender your right to obtain or enforce an agister’s lien. If you are pressured to return the animal by anyone, inform them that you are in the process of obtaining a legal lien and have the right to retain the animal until the lien is issued. 

Many owners pay up when they learn of lien or possible auction. “They suddenly realize you’re serious and act accordingly,” Mollica notes. What if they still refuse to pay? If you auction the horse, in most states, you are entitled to what you are owed, plus legal expenses, including the cost of obtaining the lien, as well as the auction costs incurred. If the horse sells for more than what you are owed plus expenses, you are not entitled to keep the difference. You must send that money to the owner who hired you—no matter how much you resent them. If the horse sells for less than you are owed, you may pursue the remaining debt in court.

The bankrupt owner

Finally, if an owner who owes you money declares bankruptcy, hire an experienced attorney to file an official claim on your behalf with the bankruptcy court. The court will ultimately decide which creditors get paid how much and when. Filing a claim will not guarantee that you get paid the full amount you are owed. In fact, it will not guarantee that you get paid at all. However, failing to file a claim pretty much guarantees that you end up with nothing.

No trainer, no matter how skilled or successful, is infallible when it comes to sizing up which clients will pay their bills. Hopefully, these examples and recommendations will assist you in avoiding unpaid invoices, and help you obtain the money you are owed if payday ever turns to “someday.’

Q&A with Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds - thoughts on racing

By Bill Heller

  While adept at deflecting credit for his successes, 57-year-old Terry Finley —a 1986 graduate of West Point—has emerged as an industry leader, currently serving as the chairman of the New York Thoroughbred Chaplaincy and on the board of the Belmont Child Care Association, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and Thoroughbred Charities of America. He was on the board of the Breeders’ Cup from 2004 through 2011, the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, and the Jockey Club. He was elected a member of the Jockey Club in 2019.

Terry Finley’s West Point Thoroughbreds enjoyed a stellar 2021, highlighted by Flighline’s impressive win in the Malibu Stakes (Gr. 1) on December 26.

To date, West Point Thoroughbreds has won over 950 races, including 56 graded stakes with earnings of more than $60 million. Four years removed from its Kentucky Derby victory with Always Dreaming, West Point has brought in more than 2,000 new owners to the industry. Terry’s wife Debbie and daughter Erin are key members of the company.

Has the Breeders’ Cup accurately carried out founder John Gaines’ vision?

Yes. Mr. Gaines, who I didn’t get to know unfortunately, wanted the Breeders’ Cup to be in essence our Super Bowl—to bring everybody together to promote Thoroughbred racing and spotlight horses, owners, breeders and trainers. It’s a much more focused operation with the allocation of stakes money, the “Win and You’re in” program, the shipping bonus, the international participation, the event itself. The ongoing success of the Breeders’ Cup is a grand slam for our industry.

Is there room for future growth?

I’d like to think there is. There are really sharp people of the younger generation in our business. There’s always room to get better. I do know that Drew Fleming and his staff have not sat back on their heels so far, and I certainly don’t see them doing so in the future.

Are there new markets for the Breeders’ Cup?

Yes. Would it be good to have it in New York? Yes. But they don’t just decide that in a day. I trust the people who are working on this—the people on the board. I trust the process.

What can be done to prevent further shutdowns on major tracks such as Arlington and Calder—both shut down by Churchill Downs, Inc.?

The industry can attract more breeders, owners and bettors. That’s really the one thing that we, inside the business, need to do to have any semblance of an impact: to grow our sport. I venture to say that if we were still at 36,000 foals—we’re at 19,000 now—Churchill Downs would have been less apt to sell Arlington Park. A public company’s first priority is to their shareholders. It’s disheartening to so many of us to lose racetracks. If our business continues to contract, we’ll have additional race tracks close. It’s inevitable. That’s just market equilibrium.

Should we limit stallion book sizes?

I don’t breed a lot of horses. It’s a complex issue. But if anybody thinks that the current direction of our breeding pool and breeding industry are going to put us in a better spot in 10 or 15 years, I haven’t heard any cogent explanation of why they think that would be true. You either sit on your hands as an industry, or you work for the betterment of the industry by taking action; and the Jockey Club has done exactly that.

Debbie and Terry Finley with daughter Erin

Does the industry have to rewrite what ADW pays into purse accounts?

There are irregularities in revenue sharing created by the changing landscape in our industry, each seemingly to the detriment of the purse account. It's good for every part of the industry to have equitable sharing of the revenue for each dollar bet. There’s a lot of upside if we don’t dig in our heels, on either side. Owners and trainers who lead the various local horsemen’s groups need to ensure these inequities are addressed in a fair and equitable way. 

It’s a complex situation. The market and the industry have changed. Good leaders from every facet of our industry step up when things change and make adjustments. We know it’s important for long-term viability of owning and operating racing stables. That’s at the core of the Thoroughbred industry, of owning horses, breeding horses, training horses and selling horses. It’s not just the owners that are impacted. It’s the jockeys, it’s the trainers, it’s the breeders, it’s the sales company. All are impacted by that revenue pie. Overall, I have faith that we’re all going to be able, through work and compromise, to adjust things to take into account the market decisions we face right now.

With the growth in partnerships and shared owners, would it be good for the industry to introduce a formal code of conduct for those who syndicate horses to give greater transparency for those who wish to join?

Absolutely. One was recently initiated in Europe. As long as everything’s transparent, when you buy horses at auction, people know what they’re paying for. I would be in favor. The more we discuss the areas of our industry that have gone untouched for so long, the better for all of us.

Were you in favor of the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA)?

When I started out, when I first learned of it, I wasn’t in favor of federal involvement in our game for any number of reasons. The more I learned and the more I got into it, I realized that for decades now, there have been a strong group of people who benefit from the ill-conceived and a patchwork of different regulations in the 38 states that are running racing in the United States. I looked and saw the same people say “Trust us, give us a little more time, I’ve got this. I’m the smartest person in the world. All you have to do is ask me.” I realized that in so many years, back in the ‘80s and the ‘90s, they’re saying the same thing they’re saying now. 

I started to see more smoke and mirrors. It just hit me one day that we need a new system. It was probably around the time the Jockey Club took up the pursuit of federal legislation. It started with Arthur and Stacy Hancock saying we’re dealing with the Wild West when it comes to medication. You basically just stand there. I am not unique. There are a lot of people for a lot of years who are all in, putting everything they have into the racing business. We’re so far in; we’re not going to do anything else.

There had to be a better way. 

That view came from my association with the horsemen groups. There are people who weren’t elected, who were making a lot of money and had not or were not involved in owning or breeding horses, and really had commandeered the voice of people who had true skin in the game. 

As I went along, it became more and more clear to me that the progress was only going to happen if that message became accepted by a wider faction. I have a national organization (West Point). Our business would be on a better road with a national authority to address the integrity and the safety side of things.

Very few of the trainers that I’ve talked to were totally against it. 

How bad has it been with different rules, involving, medication, use of the whip, rules for disqualifications?

Let me say this. The other thing that gave me confidence in HISA was I learned about the United States Anti-doping Agency (USADA). Just to have a federal law passed to create a new authority from scratch would be uber, uber concerning. Then you realize we’re not the first industry or sport to have undergone this process. One, in particular, was cycling. There are parallels there. The USADA has a model that’s tried and been tested. That’s what allayed the fears that I had initially with the federal government coming in. It’s not the federal government—it’s federal oversight. Cycling, martial arts, the  Olympics—we’re not the only ones who had this done. They’re not creating the structure from scratch. They have learned from the other programs, especially cycling.

There is a level of independence we haven’t had before. It’s like we hit a Triple Crown. We got the law passed—that was the Derby. The Preakness was putting in the structure and the rules of the authority. The Belmont will be the execution and the refinement, putting it out and hitting the go button.

Can the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act improve public perception?

It will improve. Undoubtedly. I think people—and we talk to a lot of people who want to get in the game just in the past two months—are very clear that our industry wants to change, and we’ve taken action to change our sport. I would hope that I’m not the only one who’s seen a benefit from people knowing the jig is up with the people who blatantly cheat in our industry. When they see you’re trying and you’re taking bold, definitive steps, they’ll give you the benefit of doubt. They don’t want to hear people saying the same thing for decades, and it hasn’t worked. They know it. Sophisticated investors—the people we want to attract as owners and breeders—know it. Those types of things that would be good to promote: wealthy people who have been successful in their business. They know. People knew we weren’t authentic before. That changed very quickly with HISA.

What was the impact of having high-profile trainers who have had medication violations in our biggest races?

As an owner, I get sick to my stomach thinking of how long “those guys” on the backside have been peddling their latest “hop.” I simply can’t fathom how tough it’s been to have trained horses the right way over many years and know that races and money have been stolen from us.

Are you optimistic about racing’s future?

Yes, I’m very bullish on racing’s future. We all love the industry. It’s our time. Most states have stated publicly that they want to cooperate and want to participate. That’s a good sign. I know it’s not going to be easy. Some aren’t on board, but the train is rolling. Work is being done on this.

There are people who aren't in favor of this. Once it passed, they rallied behind it. That’s a good thing. It’s very gratifying to see the depth and the breadth of the support of this. Hopefully, that support is authentic. It’s just not words, but it’s deeds to support this. It’s easier to say you support it, but we need it to be true and authentic. I look at the HBPA. I don’t understand their position. They haven’t supported the initiative. If you can get through the criticism, ask them what their plan is. How would they attack the integrity problem in racing? I haven’t seen anything that could be called a program. It’s important for you to say not what you’re against, but what you’re for. I’m a member of the HPBA in many states. I’m disappointed with how they dealt with this. 

Realistically, five years from now, where is racing headed?

I truly believe we’re in a much better place because we will have the entrenchment of HISA in our business and our backstretches and our sales. They’ll be independent, [have] oversight, much more and safer racing. The big events in our business will be bigger and more exciting to people. That’s my true belief. In five years, 10 years, we’ll look back at July 1, 2022—people will look back and say that’s when we turned the corner. Very similar to cycling, pre-Lance and post-Lance (Armstrong). I think we’ll have the same thing, pre-HISA and post-HISA. We can make it better. 

Understanding the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Act

THE DEVIL WILL BE IN THE DETAILS

By Annie Lambert

Legislation written by the United States Congress is often—if not always— a compilation of gobbledygook legal verbiage, which is barely intelligible even to the composers. The 25 pages of H.R.1754, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020 (HISA), is no exception.

HISA was passed through the U.S. House of Representatives by a unanimous voice vote on September 29, 2020. The legislation was a long time coming. Predecessors of HR 1754 were proposed in various forms since 2011. Most revisions were developed similar to the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act of 1978, which was never passed by Congress.

The final HISA legislation passed the Senate December 22, 2020 and was signed into law by President Donald Trump a few days later on December 27. HISA will concentrate on ensuring the integrity of Thoroughbred horse racing and the overall safety of racehorses and jockeys through national, uniform standards that will include anti-doping and medication control, along with racetrack safety programs. 

Barry Irwin, founder and chief executive officer of Team Valor International, has been at the forefront of rooting for more integrity in the racing industry for two decades or longer. As a turf writer, breeder, owner and bloodstock agent for over a half-century, Irwin looks forward to seeing the industry’s reputation improved.

“THE WHOLE POINT OF THE (LEGISLATION) IS THAT WE WANTED

AN INDEPENDENT ORGANIZATION TO BE IN CHARGE”. Barry Irwin

In an October 2004 Blood-Horse Op-Ed, Irwin wrote: “The single greatest problem facing the game—how to restore integrity to the race itself—is not receiving the attention it so desperately requires.”

For more than two decades, international owner-breeder Barry Irwin has been at the forefront of rooting for more integrity in the racing industry

As an avid track and field fan, Irwin drew a parallel to cheaters in those sports to cheaters in racing. He became and remains involved with the Water, Hay, Oats Alliance (WHOA) to stop the use of drugs in racehorses. 

“Right now I hardly race our horses in America; all my horses are in Europe,” he pointed out. “I just can’t stand running against these guys that cheat. It’s not like I’m not doing well—I’m having a hell of a year. I’m in it for the fun and the sport and to prove something. I’m not in it to win at all costs.”

Owner and breeder Jeff Bloom, proprietor of Bloom Racing Stable, has worn many hats in the racing industry for 37 years: jockey, racing manager, bloodstock agent and broadcaster. Bloom agrees that racing needs to transition to a new standard of operation.

“As an industry, I think it is imperative that we come to an agreement that there needs to be a uniform and centralized governance, making decisions as it relates to medication and safety issues across the various racing jurisdictions,” Bloom opined from his base in Arlington, Texas. “It is going to take some work to transition over to the new way of doing things, but in the end, the industry as a whole is going to be substantially better for it.”

Not every entity in racing is willing to accept HISA regulations without a fight. Under the leadership of its president, Doug Daniels, DVM, the National Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association (NHBPA) has already filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of HISA. Last March, the suit was filed on behalf of the NHBPA and 12 state HBPA chapters. Named as defendants in the suit were 11 individuals based on their official capacities as related to the FTC and HISA’s Authority.

In a statement, Dr. Daniels and the NHBPA Board of Directors made their position clear: “The National HBPA’s focus has always been, and remains, the health and safety of the horse, the safety of the jockey and the safety of all individuals coming into contact with the horse, including grooms, hotwalkers, trainers and veterinarians. With that, the affiliates of the National HBPA remain strongly committed to the welfare of our human and equine athletes and will remain persistent in its efforts through the National HBPA to achieve national uniformity based on published, scientifically determined regulatory thresholds, with published, scientifically determined withdrawal time guidelines, all based on and supported by data published in the scientific literature.”

There are other HISA skeptics in a variety of positions within the industry, but most prefer to hold their opinions until the details—now being written into the act—are completed. It is anticipated those details may be made public by the end of 2021.

It is hoped the new protocols will increase racetrack revenues by boosting the public’s confidence in wagering and ensure public confidence of safety within the sport

HISA Particulars

HISA creates the “Authority,” which is an independent, nonprofit corporation, created and authorized by Congress to establish and enforce medication, anti-doping and racetrack safety rules and programs for the United States Thoroughbred racing industry. In other words, HISA has been lawfully entrusted to take on its rulemaking and enforcement activities.

Members of the Authority’s board and both the Anti-Doping & Medication Control and the Racetrack Safety standing committees are robustly putting their knowledge and expertise to pen the rules, regulations and protocols that will complete the details needed to enforce the act.

The Authority is tasked with implementing and enforcing a horse racing anti-doping and medication control program as well as a racetrack safety program for Thoroughbred racing. Even though the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will have oversight over the Authority, the Authority will exercise absolute and independent national command over anti-doping and medication control and racetrack safety matters for all Thoroughbred racing and training in the United States. 

HISA will be guided by a board of directors consisting of nine members, five of which are from outside the Thoroughbred racing industry and four from within the industry. Boththe Anti-Doping and Medication Control Standing Committee and the Racetrack Safety Standing Committee consist of four independent members and three industry members.

“They picked a lot of people [for the board] that have a great record, and their hearts are in the right place,” Irwin said. “At this point, we just have to trust these people to do the right thing. The whole point of the [legislation] is that we wanted an independent organization to be in charge.” 

(See sidebars for selected members.)

The Authority is structured to ensure that individuals outside the Thoroughbred industry are in the majority when considering key issues. However, it does survey significant industry input from the industry directors as well as members on advisory committees. There are also supermajority requirements for any material changes to the Authority’s rules as well as the oversight by the FTC.

The FTC will oversee the Authority in approving its rules and handling appeals in violation matters.

Medication minutiae

Medication baseline rules are established in the legislation, and the Authority is able to establish other rules, if approved by the FTC. To modify medication rules in a manner that would make them less stringent, HISA requires them to be approved by both the board and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). The USADA is described by HISA as the Authority’s medication control enforcement agency.

Per HISA, anti-doping and medication control program operations will be managed by USADA. They will conduct and oversee anti-doping and medication control testing and results management, independent investigations, charging and adjudication of potential violations and enforcement of civil sanctions for those violations.

Dr. Jeff Blea is the equine medical director (EMD) at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine. As EMD, he is the liaison between the university and the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB). 

“A lot of what I do is CHRB related,” Blea explained, “...handling complaints, overseeing investigators, making recommendations to the stewards, etc.” “Technically it is an advisory role, not the heavy hand that people think it is.

Blea is also on the HISA Anti-Doping and Medication Control Standing Committee.

“A lot of horsemen have hoped for a long time for uniformity and structure to provide a level playing field,” he said. “What’s interesting is that, in California, I think we are the strictest across the country. I think we are far above as far as welfare and safety. We are hoping that what we’ve gone through and the changes we’ve made will be similar to what we will see under HISA.”

“A lot of work is currently being done by the committees,” Blea added. “It is a work in progress and not ready for primetime yet.”

The racetrack safety standing committee will develop proposed safety expectations. They are to take into consideration existing safety standards, including those of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Safety and Integrity Alliance Code of Standards, the International Federation of Horseracing Authority’s International Agreement on Breeding, Racing and Wagering and the British Horseracing Authority’s Equine Health and Welfare program.

Proposed safety standards will be presented to the Authority’s board to review and approve. If accepted, the final stamp of approval will come from the FTC.

Anti-bleeding medications such as Lasix will be banned in all two-year-old races and in stakes events until newer rules are implemented

The rules will be implemented in each state and at each track. The HISA legislation defines “covered persons” as owners, trainers, veterinarians and racetracks for horses that run in races with interstate wagering. All racing states—currently 38 in the U.S.—will automatically be subject to the rules and regulations of HISA. The Authority and the USADA will have the right to enforce their compliance.

Once HISA becomes operative on July 1, 2022, states will lose the power to regulate or enforce their own rules. They will no longer have the ability to opt out of the Authority’s anti-doping and safety programs. Any covered persons or states that do not comply with the Authority’s standards, may face orders of compliance from federal courts.

The Authority and USADA will be able to enter into agreements with state racing commissions for the purpose of enforcement of racetrack safety programs, services consistent with the enforcement of the anti-doping and medication control program and to monitor and enforce racetrack compliance with the Authority standards. The Authority, USADA and the states, via collaboration, may choose to work together on how racing medication and safety regulation and enforcement will be handled in the state, but all cases remain subject to the final rules of the Authority. 

Safety specifics

HISA requires the Authority to develop training and racing safety standards, while taking into account differences between racing facilities. Some variation in standards will be allowed in different regions so long as they do not increase risks for horses and riders. The Authority hopes these differences will enhance the integrity and safety of Thoroughbred racing and increase racetrack revenues by increasing the public’s confidence in wagering and ensure public confidence of safety within the sport.

The legislation only preempts existing state laws and regulations relating to drugs administered to horses participating in races subject to interstate wagering and racetrack safety measures. Most rules and regulations within the authority of state racing commissions will not be affected. The unaffected rules include those related to wagering, licensing of racing participants, breed enhancement programs, sales of breeding and racing stock, types of races allowed, claiming of horses, taxation of racing and similar.

The Authority and state racing commissions may enter into agreements with the states to provide services agreeable with the enforcement of track safety programs as well as the anti-doping and medication control programs.

Duncan Taylor, president of Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Kentucky, is looking forward to seeing the coming details after reading the HISA legislation. 

“I think [HISA] is very well put together and thought out,” said Taylor. “I think it is the greatest thing I’ve seen in our business; we need consistency in how we rule our sport.”

“Now what we have to do is quantify what actually happens when we put these rules in place,” Taylor continued. “We quantify what was good, what wasn’t good, then we tweak it and have a methodology of making a decision to go forward and make it better. Now we have a structure, and I think that is going to be very helpful to the sport.”

Thoroughbred Sales Incentives - added value

With global inflation rising, mare owners as well as sales consignors and buyers may be looking harder than ever for perks to plump up their equine investments.

by Annie Lambert

Arguably one of the greatest promoters in history was P.T. Barnum, most remembered for creating the Barnum & Bailey circus, “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Barnum grew up in 1800s America with a natural talent toward publicity and promotion. 

Modern-time promotion is more likely to be called marketing. It won’t have all the bells, whistles, fireworks and grifting used by Barnum, but it still requires limitless imagination. Stallion promoters and sales companies in North America and globally have developed marketing programs to entice customers in their competitive markets.

Interested parties can choose from deals on stallion shares, buy auctioned horses with eligibility to restricted races and more.

Advantage breeders

Some breeding farms have put together attractive programs to draw the owners of quality mares to their stallions.

Spendthrift Farm (Lexington, Ky.) provides two options to breeders. Their programs include Share the Upside and Safe Bet. 

Share the Upside has been a great program for Spendthrift Farm, according to Ned Toffey, the farm’s general manager.

“You breed a mare in each of the first two years the stallion is at stud, and once your mare has produced two live foals, and you’ve paid your stud fees in a timely manner, you have then earned a lifetime breeding right,” he explained. “After that you breed to the horse free (no charge) for the rest of his breeding career.

“Into Mischief was one of the first horses that we offered on this program, and people paid in the vicinity of $6,500, two years in a row to earn a lifetime breeding, which is now worth $1 million.” “That’s the ultimate example; not every horse is going to be a two-time leading sire,” he added with a laugh.

Ned Toffey - Into Mischief

Toffey explained that the program has helped smaller breeders who are often priced out when stallions become successful. Share the Upside helps those breeders, who helped make the horse successful, by allowing them the opportunity to utilize the horse throughout his career.

While first-year stallions generally don’t need incentives to attract mares, the hope is that they will use that stallion in subsequent years.

Which stallions are offered in the program depends on the market economics at the time. Toffey finds that the $15,000 and under fee levels of the market appreciate, and he enjoys using the program. It is not as appealing to some of the higher-end breeders. Mares are approved for the first two paid breedings, but once owners have earned lifetime rights, they may breed any mare.

“Our hope is that, since people have a vested interest in the horse’s success, that they are going to support him with quality mares,” Toffey acknowledged. “We try to always have some Share the Upside horses for our breeders to be able to utilize.”

The stallions offered for 2022 have not been decided on yet. Spendthrift holds breeding rights in a number of horses, but it is unclear if those will be coming into stud or remain in training. It is a little early.

Spendthrift’s other program option is not geared toward freshman sires, but rather their first crop of two-year-olds. If a breeder sends a mare to the stallion the year his first offspring are two, the contract has two options.

If the stallion does not produce a graded stakes winner by the end of that calendar year, then there is no stud fee owed. If the stallion does produce a graded stakes winner by the end of the year, then the mare owner would owe the agreed upon/advertised stud fee.

“The idea is to try and incentivize breeders who may like a horse but may be apprehensive about using the horse who is unproven,” Toffey explained. “This gives them a reward for taking a chance on one of our horses. If the horse works out, then they owe a very reasonable stud fee; if the horse doesn’t have a very good year, even though he may throw some listed stakes winners, he may throw graded stakes placed horses. But if that is all he does, then there would be no stud fee owed. But once he produces a graded stakes winner, the full fee would be owed.”

Bob Feld’s Bobfeld Bloodstock took advantage of Spendthrift’s Share the Upside program and now has a lifetime breeding right to Temple City. Feld bred and campaigned Miss Temple City’s daughter of Temple City—a winner of three Gr. 1 stakes with earnings of $1,680,091. She sold at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton November sale for $2.5 million.

Miss Temple City - Bob Feld

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Trainers vs. the IRS - qualifying losses as business deductions

By Peter J. Sacopulos

As a Thoroughbred trainer, you are running an equine-related business. But the IRS may decide you are merely enjoying an expensive hobby. If that happens, the agency will deny your business expense deductions and boost your tax bill. What guidelines should you follow to ensure that your activities are not miscategorized, and when is the law on your side?

A costly question

Here is a riddle for you: When is a business not a business? Before you answer, I should tell you that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is asking, not me. And with that, as is often the case when a tax collector asks a question, the wrong answer could prove costly. So, when is a business not a business? When the IRS says it is a hobby.

The question itself is valid. The United States Federal Tax Code taxes business income, among other things. In doing so, it allows any taxpayer who owns and runs a business to deduct all “ordinary and necessary expenses paid” during a tax year for “carrying on a trade or business.” However, the code also makes it clear that carrying on a trade or business means engaging in an activity to earn a profit, not because it is fun or enjoyable.

What does the IRS call engaging in an activity on a regular basis for the sheer pleasure of doing it? The same thing the rest of us do. “A hobby.” 

Before Congress rewrote the federal tax code in 2018, some taxpayers might have been able to deduct certain hobby expenses. But they would have had to make money from the hobby, reported income and made sure their expenses qualified as miscellaneous itemized deductions under IRS rules. How many deductions does the current tax code allow for hobby-related expenses? Basically, none.

From pleasure to profit

Meanwhile, American popular culture bombards us with career advice, urging us to pursue our passion and follow our dreams. No wonder so many of us grow up fantasizing about wildly successful careers spent doing something we love. The budding guitarist dreams of becoming a rock star. The talented young artist, of selling paintings in Paris for millions. And the young man or woman with talent and skill for horses, of riding to victory in the Triple Crown. While dreams like these are longshots, they might come true. More realistically, they may lead to other careers. The grown-up guitarist teaches music lessons, for instance, while the artist works as a freelance children’s book illustrator, and the young horseman becomes a Thoroughbred trainer.

In each of these cases, the individual would be running a business that began as a hobby. Doing so might be their full time career, or a “side hustle” that supplements income from another job or business. These individuals may enjoy what they do a great deal. But once they start doing it to make money, their operating expenses are tax deductible. In other words, they are required to pay taxes only on their net profits (business income minus business expenses), not on the business’ gross profits (business income before the deduction of business expenses).

This means that items like the music teacher’s new amplifier, the illustrator’s new watercolor brushes and the trainer’s new tack may all be deducted, so long as the items are used for business purposes. The same applies to all other legitimate business expenses—from cellphones to facilities. And as the owner of any Thoroughbred-related business knows, expenses can add up quickly, especially when a business is starting up or expanding.

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What we learned at the track superintendents field day

There is no shortage of hard-working people in horse racing. The average 9-to-5 office worker probably cannot imagine the long hours put in by trainers with nary a day off or the sleepless nights breeders endure during foaling season. The work is not just long; it is hard and often requires a mixture of blood, sweat and tears. And there aren’t any days off for inclement weather. One group in racing, in particular, deals with these conditions on a daily basis—track superintendents and their crews. However, their arduous efforts at keeping horses and jockeys safe are sometimes overlooked. Track Superintendent Field Day, held June 14-15 at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino, puts a spotlight on the important work of those dedicated to track maintenance and serves as a way for them to share best practices and create connections.

More than 100 attendees representing 70 tracks, training centers and farms were at this year’s event, which was first held in 2002 when Roy Smith, now track superintendent at Indiana Grand, launched it at Philadelphia Park (now Parx Racing) after earlier gatherings, as part of the University of Arizona Race Track Industry’s Racing Symposium. The event had mostly Thoroughbred representation, but there was also a contingent from Standardbred tracks for the resumption of the conference, which was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19. 

“We could not be more pleased with the turnout we had for this,” said Smith about the near-record attendance despite the lack of international attendees who normally make the trip. “We had some of the industry’s leaders make presentations over the past two days, and you’d have to go far and wide to find the level of expertise and experience we had in that room. These people have their finger on the pulse of this complicated industry. We all have busy schedules, so I appreciate all who attended.”

Improving safety through technology

Technology has touched every aspect of racing in recent years with computerized betting, advanced veterinary scanning capabilities and GPS race timing to name just a few; and the niche world of track maintenance is no different. While track superintendents (a.k.a. “supers”) will always rely on their own experience and instincts on how to best maintain their racetracks, they increasingly rely on technology.

For the uninformed who might think track supers just push around dirt and add some sand here and there, the event’s first speaker, agronomist and soil scientist Michael DePew of Environmental Technical Services, made it clear just how complicated dirt and even synthetic surfaces can be to create and maintain. 

“For optimum soil cushion performance, we want a soil that has moderate stability when compacted but when fluffed into a loose cushion will have low resistance that during hoof compaction will gradually compact to form a firm footing for push off,” he said. 

That’s not an easy sentence to say, so the cliché “easier said than done” doesn’t even apply, but getting it done is certainly not easy. DePew covered the best size and shape of sand particles to achieve a suitable racing surface, and he talked about regional differences in what materials are available and how clay in one part of the country might be different than that in another area. He explained how testing the soil of a racetrack can generate a report with a wealth of data, such as the size of the sand particles; and then actions can be taken to get those numbers into recommended target ranges. 

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A safer Santa Anita - How the Santa Anita vets & trainers made a positive difference in 2020

By Ken Snyder

Some media observers have opined that bad journalism is not just reporting inaccuracies or things made up to suit a narrative, but also what isn't reported. From the perspective of many people in the racing industry, especially in Southern California, the absence of even the slightest acknowledgment of the safety turnaround at Santa Anita in 2020 is an example of the latter.  

Here are the facts with one apples-to-apples comparison of statistics between 2019—when Santa Anita suffered a horrific spate of fatalities—and last year. According to The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database, there were 13 racing fatalities on the dirt track in 2019 at Santa Anita.  In 2020, there were zero racing fatalities—zip, nada, none—on the dirt track. Pick your adjective to describe that: incredible, astonishing, miraculous? The public is still waiting, by and large, on adjectives, or anything else for that matter, from the media.

Looking at all statistics, the dirt stat is no anomaly. With training fatalities, there were 17 in 2019 and 10 in 2020. Only with turf racing are the numbers close; in fact, they're even—six turf fatalities in both 2019 and 2020.  

Hall of Fame Trainer Richard Mandella is perhaps charitable when he says the absence of reporting is "suspicious."  

The one indisputable fact is that animal rights activists want racing shut down, he said. Why the governor and the politicians "jumped on board last year," as Mandella states it, is anybody's guess.  

He speculates that a decline in marketing spending by the California racing industry—advertising in media outlets—may be at the root of not reporting the turnaround.  Perhaps People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA, the principal anti-racing activist group) exert powerful political pressure (and funding to political campaigns). Maybe public perception crafted by media reporting (and "not reporting") impacts things at the ballot box far more than those in racing can imagine.

There is no question that a cluster of fatalities like those that occurred in 2019 at Santa Anita will produce an outcry from the public, and deservedly so. "We were warned that if we didn't get it straight," referring to 2019, "that they were going to 'cut our cord' and stop racing," said Mandella.

Bullet dodged. Mission accomplished. Racing continues. So, what was the story-behind-the-story of the success at Santa Anita in 2020?  

Mandella expresses the principle behind the solution: "Two heads are better than one." In actuality, a training inspection program established by The Stronach Group (TSG) brought to bear not just two heads but four veterinarians led by TSG Equine Medical Director Dr. Dionne Benson. 

As many as three vets hired by Santa Anita and reporting to Benson space themselves around the track every morning, watching workouts and coordinating with another vet in the barn area.  They will observe all the horses but particularly those on a daily list of horses deemed at "elevated risk," as Benson terms it, who will breeze that day. A horse exhibiting lameness, whether it is on the list for close observation or another horse merely out for a gallop, will be examined by the vet serving backside duty that day once it leaves the track. Often that vet will meet a horse and exercise rider at the barn and examine the horse while still under saddle.

An on-track vet will sometimes radio an outrider to get a horse off the track immediately if it appears to be in distress. The vet will then call the trainer to alert them to a possible injury and have the barn-area vet waiting as well. On-track vets have even followed a distressed horse and rider from the track to the barn.  

The program began informally in 2019 when the state shut down Santa Anita because of the fatalities. Benson came onto the Santa Anita racetrack in May 2019 and had the foresight to assign Santa Anita vets with downtime to watch training.  

"Prior to that time, the responsibilities of the track and training were the track surface, making sure that it was well taken care of, setting the training hours, and providing outriders to catch loose horses.  We really felt we could do a lot by adding some oversight and supervision to training.  

"We really refined it as we proceeded, and it progressed to a more active role for the veterinarians." 

The refinements and staffing meant an unprecedented degree of inspection and effort in terms of time and money. "When you're watching horses one day a week or one day a month, it's not the same as watching five days a week for five hours," said Benson. Santa Anita veterinarians rotate days off to make certain of training coverage daily. "You start to know the horses, and because we also do physical inspections on horses in training, we have a really good idea of which ones we're most concerned about."

Benson said her vets develop "a good sense of the horses. They'll say, 'Oh, that's so and so. He looks great today.' They not only have the ability to pick out unusual movement patterns for the horses, but they also know enough about the horses that each one has a profile in their mind."  

Inspection is not a matter of random selection. A requirement for Santa Anita trainers mandates they must register any horse they intend to breeze 48 hours before that workout. A horse working Wednesday, for example, requires registration with the racing office on Monday. The office will compile expanded past performance data that includes races and workout times plus injury and vet's list history. The office passes these on—usually 70 to 80 pages—for Benson or a member of her team to review. The reviewer will apply as many as eight criteria to determine horses that may be at higher risk for injury and fatality. Things looked for include inactivity for more than 90 days, unusual work patterns, horses coming into California from another state, and, as one might expect, horses that have a history of being on the state veterinarian's list for unsoundness. 

Also, a horse scratched from a race, who flipped in the gate or that finished 20 lengths behind in a race are additional things noted in reviewing past performance and history, said Dr. Jay Deluhery, a Santa Anita inspector.

Of, say, 200 horses scheduled for workouts, an average of 50 makes the "watch list" for close observation while on the track, according to Deluhery. The team will then divide and examine each horse on the following day. Vets will flex and palpate the limbs and have the horse jog in the shedrow or just outside it. "From there, they can make the decision of, 'Do I want this horse to breeze or not?'" he added.  

"In some cases, we'll say, 'Yeah, this horse is good,' or we want more information about this horse. 'It's had a long layoff. Why?' Or, 'I want to talk to your vet about this horse, or you need this diagnostic before you can breeze.'"

"We maybe see a couple to five horses a week that we actually turn down for works.  

"In some cases, we'll say, 'Come and jog in front of the vet on the track under tack.' Sometimes you see different information there."

If the workout registration and subsequent inspections sound extreme, it has gained acceptance by Santa Anita trainers, by and large. "I think learning is setting in that maybe mistakes were being made, and we're learning to correct them," Mandella said.

Benson estimates that since the program's inception, the team has performed 3,700 to 3,800 examinations of horses both routinely and before breezes at Santa Anita.  

An unexpected result of the program beyond reduced fatalities is what Benson calls a "culture change" among the racing community at Santa Anita. "We have trainers who are more willing to go directly to diagnostics instead of saying, 'Let's see if we can medicate the horse through this problem.'" 

Deluhery added, "They are seeing the value of having more MRIs [magnetic resonance imaging] and increasing PET scans [also for tissue and organ functioning], and even more nuclear scintigraphy [essentially a bone scan] on the horse."

"Some of them have taken the initiative, and we don't have to tell them; they just do it. Horses with bone scans? It's unprecedented. They're doing it on their own."

Benson added, "There are always going to be outliers, but the majority of the trainers that we have at Santa Anita, San Luis Rey and Golden Gate Fields [all California TSG facilities] really want their horses to be healthy and safe; and they don't want to be the person who has a horse that's injured."

Important to the inspection is not only the cooperation of trainers but private vets employed by trainers. Whether intended directly or not, the TSG inspection program has "instituted private vets doing exams prior to works and prior to entry," said Benson. "We've actually involved the veterinarians to do things that they had not been doing, but they're reaping the benefits. 

"It's a very collegial atmosphere for the most part. I mean, no one wants to have their horse scratched. No one wants to be told, ‘Your horse has to go and have this diagnostic,’ but instead of the pushback that we might have gotten two years ago, people now are like 'Absolutely, we'll do the right thing,'" said Benson.

Deluhery believes acceptance by trainers was the key factor in the success of the program. "I expected them to either accept this or the inspection program would die," he said. "Now that they've seen the results, they're wanting to cooperate, and they're happy to show me any horse in the barn."

He believes trainers have seen the value in replacing guessing, hunches and risk-taking with "putting a little science into things" where horse health is concerned. Too, he believes they see "the economics of it on a big scale." A healthy horse will be a more productive horse with a potentially maximized racing career.   

The inspection program has drawn the interest of others in racing. "I've had a few calls with different regulators, different individuals, different jurisdictions; and I think there is a desire to do it," said Benson. Currently, TSG has veterinarians watching training at all of its California tracks and is working to expand the full program elsewhere.

"It is costly. Hiring three to four vets per track to cover your days is not inexpensive, but I think it is an investment that is well worth it. The more interventions, the more eyes we have on these horses, the better we can see something before it happens."

Whether covered or ignored by those professing to be journalists, one thing is inescapable and captured by Mandella in an overview of the inspection program: "The facts are there. It's worked."

Dr. Benson and her team are, without question, pleased with the success of the inspection program and look for continuing improvement statistically. One unrecorded statistic, however, means more to them than anything: horses that, because of the workout inspections and examinations, have been retired.

She recounted just one story among many: "I had a vet come up to me and say, 'You know, there was a horse that was on the track that your vets kept flagging. They just kept saying, 'We don't like the way it moves.' I could never really see it as that lame. You guys kept at it so I finally sent the horse for a bone scan and sure enough, it had a humeral stress fracture brewing.'"

Horses with stress fractures, with time and therapy, can come back. In this case, the owners and trainer elected to retire the horse.

"Those kinds of things have certainly happened more than once, but that was one that really stuck out to me because humeral stress fractures are really hard to identify by a private vet.  This guy trusted our vets," said Benson. "If they're saying there is something wrong, then there's probably something wrong. Let's do something that probably saved that horse's life."

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

By Peter J. Sacopulos

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

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

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

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

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

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

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