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Paulick: What I Learned At The Global Symposium On Racing

What I learned on Tuesday at the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program's Global Symposium on Racing.

I've been to this rodeo a few times, though not to all 49 since the Symposium was first held in 1974. I'm sure someone wears that distinction with pride. I wonder what the sport's biggest challenges were when this annual gathering was created.

Following are some notes and opinions on Day One.

—-Lisa Lazarus, chief executive officer of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, said one of the things the organization will focus on in 2024 is to explore “potential funding mechanisms both governmental and private to reduce the financial burden to the industry.”

One thing I've heard over and over from people who have dealt with Lazarus is that she listens. This is one of those examples.

HISA is expensive. Regulating a gambling activity that involves animals is bound to be expensive if done right. It hasn't been done right in the past with the various state commissions.

Lazarus also said a focus in 2024 will involve greater collaboration with “all industry participants.” One example: Next month, HISA plans to launch a “Next Generation Advisory Group” that will provide younger individuals an opportunity to be heard.

She also said technology will play a greater role going forward. “Many answers to our most pressing problems lie in our data.”

—-Andy Beyer, who I consider an industry treasure as a beloved curmudgeon, was out-curmudgeoned by Steven Crist and Jay Privman during a panel discussion, “Legends of the Game – Racing's Iconic Turf Writers.”

Beyer was inclined to agree with calls to change the timing of the Triple Crown, saying horsemen are no longer willing to run horses back in the Preakness two weeks after the Kentucky Derby – the Derby winner often being the lone exception. Crist and Privman both pooh-poohed adding more spacing between the races, saying the Triple Crown is one thing the industry does right.

Crist said one of his all-time favorite days was the 1989 Belmont Stakes when Easy Goer turned the tables on Derby-Preakness winner Sunday Silence. In the current climate, Triple Crown rivalries do not exist because horses that don't win at Churchill Down won't show up at Pimlico for the Triple Crown's middle leg as Easy Goer did.

—-Speaking of embracing change, that was the title of the next Tuesday morning panel, which asked the burning question, “Are We Ready to Adopt Category 1 Rules in the U.S.?”

Honestly, I don't care whether or not the rules governing disqualifications are tweaked – and the consensus of the panel favored change that would result in fewer DQs. I just would like to see consistent rules across all racing jurisdictions and, more importantly, consistent application of the rules.

Horseplayers, me included, are fed up with inconsistent officiating. But I suppose we could say the same of NFL referees.

—An afternoon panel, “Land For Sale. How Will Race Track Closures Impact the Industry's Long-Term Sustainability?” might as well have been called The Undertakers. There were only glimmers of hope for racing's future from the speakers who cited declining foal crops, declining wagering, and a declining number of racetracks. But maybe that's what you get when you ask six aging, white, male industry professionals (not unlike me) to sit on a panel discussing the future.

—Finally, the manure from the enablers of computer-assisted wagering players was knee deep in a panel pondering “The Good, The Bad, and the Future” of a maddening development that is causing longtime horseplayers to quit the game.

The largest CAW players are affiliated with Elite Turf Club, which is owned by the Stronach Group and New York Racing Association. Stronach Group and NYRA won't reveal the sweetheart deals given to Elite players or provide wagering details on how much Elite Players are betting or winning. One panelist was blatantly dishonest in saying anyone could get the same deals.

Scott Daruty, a longtime Stronach Group executive, essentially said “trust us” when it comes to the kinds of deals they are giving to the Elite players.

As former President Ronald Reagan said during negotiations with the Russians on arms control: “Trust, but verify.”

I'll trust them when they are more transparent and we can verify the deals Elite Turf Club players are getting, how much they are betting, and how much they are taking out of the pools.

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No, Justify Isn’t Going To Lose His Triple Crown Title; Here’s Why

Ever since news broke late last week that a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has ordered California stewards to disqualify Justify from the 2018 Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, readers have been asking us: does this mean he's no longer a Triple Crown winner?

The answer is no. Here's why.

In the fall of 2019, the New York Times reported that the 2018 Triple Crown winner had a positive test for scopolamine after the Santa Anita Derby in April 2018. Scopolamine is used to treat gastrointestinal illness in humans and is thought by some experts to behave as a bronchodilator. It's naturally found in jimson weed, and has been believed to contaminate hay, sometimes resulting in a positive test.

According to the Times, trainer Bob Baffert was informed of the positive test prior to Justify's trip to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby, and exercised his right to a split sample test at that time. In August, the California Horse Racing Board – which did not issue a complaint or schedule a public hearing – voted unanimously and privately in executive session not to proceed with the case.

It's true that Justify's win in the Santa Anita Derby earned him enough qualifying points to run in the 2018 Kentucky Derby, which he won. There are no such qualifying requirements in place for the Preakness or the Belmont.

After stewards declare a race official, state racing officials do not have the power to disqualify a horse from his or her placing unless a post-race drug test from that race reveals a substance that goes against regulations. Kentucky regulators could not disqualify Justify after the fact from the Kentucky Derby because he did not have any post-race testing issues there.

Further, Kentucky regulators don't write the conditions of the race that require qualifying points for participation – that is left to Churchill Downs.

In the years since 2018, Churchill put a new rule in place regarding medication violations with respect to Derby hopefuls.

“If the connections of a horse have been notified by a regulatory body about a medication violation from participation in a Road to the Kentucky Derby or Road to the Kentucky Oaks race, and that violation would result in disqualification, any accrued points from the race will be revoked until the matter reaches a legal conclusion,” reads a current section from the Kentucky Derby's website. “Accrued points will be reinstated if the matter is legally overturned prior to the running of the Kentucky Derby or Kentucky Oaks.”

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That policy was put in place since the Justify case, however – in all likelihood because of it – and cannot retroactively apply.

Would Justify still have held the Triple Crown title if the stewards had disqualified him from the Santa Anita Derby in a timely manner in 2018?

Probably.

Even if the stewards had decided to disqualify the horse based on the scopolamine positive, they wouldn't have been able to act until the split sample testing came back. According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Baffert didn't get the results of the split sample test until May 8, three days after Justify won the Kentucky Derby. There is commonly a delay of weeks or even months between split sample results and a regular hearing (which did not happen in this case). Even if the hearing had been scheduled May 9, 2018, and the horse was disqualified from the Santa Anita Derby, the Preakness and Belmont don't have the same points requirements for entry, so he would have presumably entered and won those races regardless.

With no mechanism for his Kentucky Derby victory to be voided in 2018, he still would have been the winner of all three races.

What about the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority – could this have happened under the current HISA system?

HISA wasn't in effect in 2018, and has no ability to act retroactively on cases that took place before the organization's creation. Under the new national rules, however, scopolamine falls into a category of substances considered “atypical findings” rather than “positives” for controlled or banned substances. With atypical findings, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit launches an investigation and tries to learn what it can about the source of the substance. If HIWU determines the substance was not administered to the horse intentionally and was probably the result of contamination, it will drop the matter.

It's difficult to say whether HIWU would have dismissed this case, but Justify's stablemate Hoppertunity also came up with a scopolamine positive around the same time. Baffert's hay supplier later produced hay samples that contained jimson weed, though it's unknown whether there was jimson weed in a shipment that went to Baffert. It's possible that under HISA/HIWU, the case would have had no impact on the horse's finish in the Santa Anita Derby, and may not have been publicly disclosed as a positive.

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U of A Symposium: Trying to Find a Way Forward Amid Track Closures

A panel about racetrack closures in the prime afternoon time slot on the first day of Tuesday's Global Symposium on Racing hosted by the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program (RTIP) in Tucson had the potential to be a somber and eulogistic affair, but it did yield some interesting back-and-forth when the discussion turned to how the industry might best stem the tide of Thoroughbred venues going dark for good.

The topic “Land For Sale. How Will Race Track Closures Impact the Industry's Long-Term Sustainability?” elicited some of the commonly debated plights facing the industry, such as the decline of the foal crop, the fierce competition for the thinning horse (and horse owner) population, how to shore up field sizes, and the emergence of so-called “super” trainers and multiple-owner partnerships.

The panelists largely agreed those practices are consolidating the remaining equine assets into the hands of too few entities, but each speaker had a slightly different take on how to best deal with those woes.

Bill Nader, the president and chief executive officer of the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), didn't shy from rhetorically asking what he termed as “the hard question” about racing in the state that he represents. California is facing outsized upheaval because of the planned 2024 closure of Golden Gate Fields, right on the heels of a 10-year span that also saw top in-state tracks Hollywood Park and Bay Meadows slide off the Thoroughbred grid.

“What's the best path forward, and can California support two circuits?” Nader postulated before following up with the TOC's perspective.

“We know we have the [Northern] fairs, that's a given,” Nader said. “And we have Southern California. But can we support two circuits, knowing what we know?” in terms of the above-referenced downward trends.

Nader continued: “One avenue would be to look at something new [as a flagship track] in the north. [Plus] there is no alternative [revenue stream from gaming to fund purses], which makes it really hard, because we're doing it the old-fashioned way, pari-mutuel wagering only, sort of one arm tied behind your back…

“If there's something in the north that we think is viable and can really form a good business case, that would be option one. If not, then we have to redirect to suitable opportunities in the south, and make use of our assets at our racetracks at not only Del Mar and Santa Anita, but also Los Alamitos.

“If the foal crop can rebound, and we can get some positive momentum, maybe we can stay a little bit close to even” in terms of nationwide track closures, Nader said.

“It's really important that California stay strong, that we keep supporting [it],” Nader said. “Our owners are big players at the Keeneland sale and many of the major yearling sales. [So] in terms of understanding the worth and the value of what everybody brings, less racing may not be the worst thing if we can improve the product and make it better for the people who bet on the races, because that triggers the handle, and that drives the engine.”

Nader explained that for Californians, it can be difficult to see other iconic, nationally important tracks, like Belmont Park and Keeneland, planning substantial long-term facility upgrades while grand places like Santa Anita and Del Mar are more focused on the year-to-year survival of their underlying state circuit.

“That's great that they're leveraging that [financial] advantage to make their venues better, no problem with that,” Nader said. “But I want everybody to be reminded how important California is. California doesn't have those [secondary revenue] advantages…. In terms of expectation management, we're okay, but we still want to escalate to the next level…. I think for the rest of the country, everybody should recognize [how] important California is to the rest of the country: Racing, breeding, history, tradition.”

Smaller tracks weren't left out of the discussion. Phil Ziegler, the president of Emerald Downs in Washington, made the observation that all too often the big-name track closures get the headlines, while it is often the disappearance of the smaller venues, like county fair race meets, that quietly erode the sport from the bottom up.

Chris McErlean, the vice president of racing for Penn Entertainment, Inc., whose Thoroughbred track holdings include Penn National in Pennsylvania, spoke candidly about how well-intended racing executives in Penn's home region of the mid-Atlantic unintentionally contribute to the very problems they're trying to fix.

This includes, McErlean said, giving big-outfit trainers “unlimited” stall allotments or writing so many conditions that races either become hard to fill or go with too few entries to be appealing to bettors.

“We do that out of convenience, [and] that's kind of self-perpetuating. That's kind of what works, but it's probably not the right thing to do,” McErlean said.

McErlean talked about how difficult it can be for a racing executive to deny alleged “super” trainers stall space and dominance across race conditions knowing that if they clamp down, that trainer will just move on to the next track down the road that will be more accommodating.

“I think we've hurt ourselves that way, and it just becomes more difficult to bring that genie back into the bottle once you let it go,” McErlean said.

“I've been involved in the mid-Atlantic for maybe 25, 30 years,” McErlean continued. “Tracks always work together very well there. But every year the discussion is, 'Let's coordinate race dates' or 'We need to coordinate race dates, it makes sense.' And it never happens. So, yeah, we're our own worst enemies.

“But at the end of the day, we run our individual businesses. We're not a league,” McErlean said. “We compete against each other [and] it's difficult to do those changes [because] we can step out and make the right choices, and then everybody else keeps doing what they're doing, and then we end up being the net loser. People want to cooperate. It's just very difficult to be able to actually pull the trigger…. In theory it sounds good. In practice, it's just much more difficult to execute.”

Craig Fravel, the executive vice chairman of 1/ST Racing and Gaming, whose portfolio of tracks includes Santa Anita, Gulfstream Park, and the to-be-closed Golden Gate, underscored a focus-on-owners mantra.

“We do have to make sure that owners are sustained in a more profound manner, that they're engaged, and that they have, you know, a fighting chance to make some money,” Fravel said. “It's a game of hope. We don't want to fool them into thinking that this is a [can't-miss] investment in Microsoft in 1978. But we do want to give them hope, and we want to make sure they're well-treated…

“If we're going to try to change things, we're going to have to try things,” Fravel said. “We're going to have to do things that are new and different and sometimes make us uncomfortable.”

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Biederman Steps Down from the Mic

Tom Biederman will be stepping down from the auctioneer stand at Fasig-Tipton at the end of 2023 to focus more on his Lexington-based Biederman Real Estate and Auctioneers company.

Biederman has served as an auctioneer and pedigree announcer at Fasig-Tipton for the past 25 years. He began in the Thoroughbred auction industry as a student at the University of Kentucky and has served in nearly every capacity available in the business, previously working for Ocala Breeders' Sales Company, Barrett's, the Canadian Thoroughbred Breeders and many others.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment of serving, not only with the Fasig-Tipton family, but just as importantly, the breeders, owners, consignors, buyers, and their supporters. It has been a wonderful honor to ply my trade at some of the most recognized Thoroughbred auctions in the world, including Fasig-Tipton Saratoga and the November sale for the last several years,” Biederman said.

He continued, “While I will continue to be involved in the Thoroughbred industry as a consultant and participant, my primary focus going forward will turn to expanding and improving Biederman Real Estate and Auctioneers, a company based in Lexington and founded in 1994 to assist buyers and sellers of quality Kentucky real estate and other commodities.”

Boyd Browning, Fasig-Tipton CEO, added, “Tom has been a valuable member of the Fasig-Tipton team for nearly four decades. He has served the company and our customers impeccably during this time. Although he will no longer be in the auction stand, we look forward to his continued involvement with Fasig-Tipton and the Thoroughbred industry as a horse owner and leader in the Central Kentucky real estate market.”

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