#Soundbites - how can trainers improve racing's public perception / image?

Article by Bill Heller

Bruce Levine

Can you ask an easier question? The only thing I can say is, if more people came out in the morning to see a horse train, you’d get a better handle and feel on how fragile the horses are. When you run horses, injuries are going to happen. You watch football players, they don’t put them down, but they cart them off. Horses’ ankles are so much smaller. It’s a fact of life.

D. Wayne Lukas

I think that they should probably interact more with the general betting public and the fan base, and let the general betting public and fanbase know there are some real sound people training. Let them get to know personalities.

Richard Mandella

I would say that you have to deal with the public when you have a chance to, to explain what we do. Be as open as possible so we don’t keep training a secret, so that the public can appreciate what we do. It’s a very important question because we need to do everything we can to gain respect for the sport that we seem to be losing.
Mark Hennig

Do things the right way would be one thing. I think there’s a lot of negativity, especially in social media, but there are positives, too. Trainers can explain what goes on every day. We have so much love and care and admiration that goes into these horses. I don’t know if we do a good job getting that message out.

Mike Stidham

I think the most important thing is every trainer taking responsibility for his job to do the very best they can to keep the horses safe and healthy. Always do the right thing. Keep the horse first. Make the horse the priority. Because I think when you’re out in the public with people who don't know racing, they worry about horses dying. They see horses die. As trainers we don’t have total control over that, but we can make a difference by doing the right thing for the horses, giving them the benefit of the doubt. To me, that’s the most important thing. 

Mike Trombetta

You know, obviously that’s a good question. I think the answer to that is of all the things that happen in racing, the good majority are upbeat stories. In our world, too much emphasis is on the negative. Just watch the news. It’s horrible to watch. If something bad happens, you hear about it five minutes later. With racing, there’s a million good stories we never hear about. It’s not talked about quite enough. Perception is reality.

Tim Hills

Be more accessible to the people at the races and the media. We’re always full disclosure. We’re not hiding anything. We love what we do and we want to share it with anyone who wants to know.

#Soundbites - How are you complying with HISA regulations, and what additional steps are you taking to be compliant?

Words - Bill Heller

Michael Matz

I don’t think we have any choice. It is what it is, and you have to do it. It’s extra work, but it makes a fair playing field. This is what we have to do. I’m sure there are a lot of glitches that will have to be worked out. We just have to comply. I hope it makes a big difference. With the bunch of people caught (cheating), it should have been done a long time ago. 

Richard Mandela

I’m lucky I’ve got my son helping. He showed me yesterday what we will be doing: a lot of recording information—we’re already doing at Santa Anita, ever since a couple years ago when we had problems with horses breaking down. It’s a great improvement, but it involves a lot of recording, inspections, checking, double checking, triple checking. It’s a pain in the neck, but it’s working.

Dale Romans

I’m going to hire a person to do all the HISA stuff. I’m going to put him on staff. I can’t do it myself. I’m going to have an open mind about HISA, but I think there’s going to be some unnecessary repetitive work. They’ll have to figure that out. 

Bruce Levine

Bruce Levine

I haven’t registered yet (as of June 9). I’m going to look at it next week. My wife will do that for me. I’m all for uniform rules, but some of the smaller tracks may have a problem. It’d be nice to have uniform rules. I just don’t know how much horse knowledge they have. They should have had people on the backstretch asking questions. 

Joe Sharp

Basically, it’s been a learning process for everybody. We’re trying to follow the guidelines that they’re giving us. It seems all the kinks haven’t been worked out yet. We’re waiting for changes in a couple of things. We’re registered and trying to sort through what they’re asking. There’s a little lack of clarity in some areas. I think we’re all trying to do the right thing.

Mike Stidham

First of all, I’m complying by just filling out the forms for myself and my horses. It’s quite a bit of data and a lot of paperwork. Everything they’re asking trainers to do has to be documented—what we did, what the vets did. I think there’s a redundancy. Whether or not this is the answer to solve many of the problems of the industry remains to be seen. We’re all going to find out after a period of time. 

Wayne Catalano

I don’t know what to think, to tell you the truth. We’ll do whatever we have to do. I don’t know what difference it’s going to make. People can get around a lot of things.

Pat Kelly

I don’t think we need it. The little guys don’t need it. I only have two horses.  We’ve already done a lot of this with the National THA (National Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association). They want people to do all this, but there’s no funding for it. It’s another layer of government bureaucracy we don’t need. I just don’t see everyone doing this by July 1.  They may have to push the date back. I’ll sign up if I have to.   

Ron Ellis

It’s not a great thing when government gets involved. It seems like a lot of unnecessary red tape. My owners are grumbling. They all have to do paperwork. We’ll see how it works out.