The Los Angeles Times' John Cherwa believes that the newest member of the California Horse Racing Board, Thomas Hudnut, may be the deciding “swing vote” between the two ideological extremes which currently populate the board.
A longtime head of Harvard-Westlake private school and former fractional owner of racehorses, Hudnut replaces Alex Solis on the CHRB.
Cherwa describes the first of the two CHRB groups, including Vice Chair Oscar Gonzales, Wendy Mitchell, and Brenda Washington Davis, as a set which is fairly open to new ideas and strict penalties which help to increase safety.
The second group, consisting of Chairman Greg Ferraro, Dennis Alfieri, and formerly Solis, preferred a slower version of change and a softer touch with the racetracks.
The seventh member of the CHRB, Damascus Castellanos, Cherwa describes as the “ideological center,” though he adds that Castellanos typically votes with the second group of commissioners.
Cherwa doesn't indicate which end of the spectrum he thinks Hudnut might lean toward, and Hudnut admitted he hadn't listened to many meetings before his appointment.
In his statement to the LA Times, Hudnut said: “The case can be made for California that it is the national leader in drug testing, horse and rider safety. Just look at the data over the last three years.”
Read more at the Los Angeles Times.
The post Opinion: CHRB’s New Thomas Hudnut Could Provide Pivotal ‘Swing Vote’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
