coronavirus | Horse Racing Free Tips

AZ Breeders: ‘No Future’ Without Commission Help to Kickstart Live Racing

Thursday’s Arizona Racing Commission (AZRC) meeting opened with the chairman Rory Goree asking stakeholders to “refrain from discussing anything” related to a controversial appeal over who controls purse account money that is scheduled for the October meeting. And it ended with Turf Paradise owner Jerry Simms apologizing for the frustration the state’s Thoroughbred community feels over his decision not to incur liability by running a 2020-21 meet during a pandemic.

In between those brief, book-ended statements that define the currently closed status of racing in Arizona, commissioners heard a slew of impassioned pleas from breeders, owners, and trainers all desperately imploring the AZRC to take some form of action so that live racing can get back up and running in the state for the first time since March.

Last month, Turf Paradise withdrew its request for a traditional autumn-through-spring meet, citing COVID-19 concerns. Arizona Downs months ago called off its summer race meet after failing to secure permission top open from local health officials. Beyond the pandemic, a prolonged fight over off-track betting (OTB) privileges, simulcast signals, and how the horsemen’s purse money can be used has been batted back and forth in the courts and during commission meetings, clouding the future of the state’s two commercial tracks.

“Anybody sitting within the Arizona breeders has seen the value of their horses drop 50%-plus, with no place to run our horses in-state,” said Kevin Owens, a board of directors member of the Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders Association. “There’s a couple of big farms and there’s a lot of people who have people who have ‘backyard’ horses that count on Arizona as a state to facilitate a racing facility to bring these Arizona-breds to track. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I would certainly hope the commission is getting behind Arizona Downs to try to assist them in any way possible to get their meet open [and] operating.

Owens was referring to the possibility of Arizona Downs taking on some winter race dates, an idea that is feasible but depends in part upon the yet-to-be-decided status of the purse account.

“We have no future,” Owens continued. “We’ve been destroyed in this business. Our studs aren’t worth anything. We have a sale coming up [Nov. 19], that by all potential is going to be a bloodbath. We are continuing with our sale, [and] I would encourage the commission to maybe show up at the sale and see what we’re about. We haven’t had much interest from you guys in actually getting into our business and seeing what we do and what it costs to sponsor a sale like this and raise a bunch of horses.

“We’ve given more than one chance to Turf Paradise, and it’s time to move on. There’s been no good faith put forth by that facility at this point, and I believe that we should put everything that we have behind Arizona Downs, as it seems like they are the only ones that are going to have a chance to survive in this state. We need to go forward with an entity that’s concerned with the racing public, the horsemen, and the breeders.”

Breeder, owner and trainer Stacy Campo told commissioners that, “We really need this to happen. I have 18 horses ready to go into training immediately. Twelve of them are Arizona-breds. And you know, we’ve worked very hard to be able to sit here and be the backbone of racing in Arizona. And I hate to say it, but the breeders in Arizona are the backbone. We do supply the stock [and] we need to get live racing. Arizona Downs can do it. I’ve got the horses and the supply to go up there and run.”

Cynthia George, who said she is an owner, trainer, pony person, and exercise rider, underscored that, “the time is critical, because people can’t hold on much longer. Many [out-of-state] meets are coming to a close, and we all need a place to go…. If there’s [an in-state] track available, we need to open.”

Owner Freddy Alvarez added that, “Arizona Downs is the future for the horsemen. We need a place to go. We own 12 horses…. I know [the commission does its] best, but all it takes is a couple of eyes at Turf Paradise to see there’s nothing going on there,” with regard to reopening in the conceivable future.

Robert Hutton, the president of the Arizona Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, said that, “the horsemen of Arizona are not looking for handouts, but only the opportunity that is offered when a live meet takes place…. It is time for this industry to move forward without the constant distraction that has hindered us for years.”

Not a single one of the 10 horse community members who spoke at the meeting expressed constructive or encouraging sentiments for Turf Paradise over Arizona Downs.

Yet despite all the support thrown behind Arizona Downs, Tom Auther, an owner and partner in Arizona Downs, said he had “nothing to report” in the section of the AZRC agenda devoted to updates from the tracks.

Jerry Simms, the owner of Turf Paradise, did have something to say during the public commentary period after most of the horse community members had spoken. He began by saying that he understood their frustration, but that he felt like he was in a “no good deed goes unpunished” position.

Simms said he has been involved in the Turf Paradise ownership for 20 years, and that the track has been operating at a “huge negative” in recent years.

“The track owes me $8 million. And there hasn’t been a distribution since 2005. But I was happy—and am happy—to continue doing that,” Simms said.

But then, Simms added, COVID-19 changed everything.

“I made the decision that I didn’t want to have the liability,” Simms said. “There are many lawsuits out there where people are suing, and claiming that [business owners are negligent for operating in a pandemic]. And it was a difficult decision for me to make. But we sat down with my top management and realized this is what we had to do. We just didn’t want the liability of putting people in that kind of risk. But I completely understand the frustration that the folks have had. I’m sorry about that part. That’s all.”

Although no immediate lifeline for the return to live racing was proposed by the AZRC, Goree said that moving forward, his organization needs to “start looking at what the requirements are regarding live racing versus having an OTB. I would just want the department to maybe start looking at that and report back to us as to what powers we may have regarding if [a licensee is] not offering live racing [but still operating] OTB networks.”

The post AZ Breeders: ‘No Future’ Without Commission Help to Kickstart Live Racing appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Goffs UK Yorton Sale Topped by Blue Bresil Colt

Topping proceedings at the Goffs UK Yorton Sale was a yearling colt by Blue Bresil (Fr) as lot 38. The bay is out of SP hurdler Hora (GB) (Hernando {Fr}) and brought £60,000 from Highflyer/NJ Henderson.

Of the 36 horses offered, 28 sold (78%) for a gross of £602,000. The average of £21,500 dropped -12% and the median was £21,000 (+5%).

“Holding any sale during the COVID era has presented us with additional challenges, and none more than this unique sale which is very different to any other,” said Goffs UK Managing Director Tim Kent. “But that is the appeal of the Yorton Sale and we are delighted with what we have achieved with David Futter and his team.

“The Yorton team had managed to compile a selection of horses that had significantly improved from last year’s sale, both physically and on paper, and this fact was not lost on purchasers who helped to achieve a 78% clearance rate which is a positive result in any year.”

The post Goffs UK Yorton Sale Topped by Blue Bresil Colt appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Op/Ed: Owning Horses and ‘Buying’ a Dream

Sam Hoskins, an owner, breeder, syndicate manager and ROA board member, gives us his view of how the reduced prize-money will impact racing in Britain

From where we were back in the spring, to get racing back on was an incredible achievement and obviously everyone understood then that prize-money was going to be hit. Horsemen accepted that up to the point when it became clear that, despite media rights flowing, there was going to be largely no executive contribution from the majority of racecourses. The call for transparency over media rights payments has been around for a while now and it has become more widespread and vocal lately as horsemen have rightly sought to establish the full, if bleak, picture of this main source of industry funding–one that should be co-owned by racecourses and horsemen in my view. For a while now, the ROA board has been aware of the figures cited in Project Enable which points to an unaccounted sum of over £100m between the gross total media rights and the amount paid to racecourses. Hopefully this all becomes clearer in due course.

It has obviously been great to get a few owners back on track slowly but surely. Some racecourses have made a fantastic effort but there are others who’ve done the bare minimum and, frustratingly from my perspective, haven’t shown sufficient flexibility regarding badge allocation. I run two syndicates, Kennet Valley Thoroughbreds and Hot To Trot Racing, and the key to success isn’t always about winners–it is about giving everyone the best time possible and making it fun. The problem to date this summer, despite some wonderful television coverage by ITV and RTV/SSR, there has been little fun to savour on the racecourse. While we’ve done our best to convey that excitement via new communication platforms, ultimately mornings on the gallops and days at the races form a huge huge part of racehorse ownership, and indeed being part of a syndicate. At the moment, as well as running for peanuts, syndicates are being vastly restricted in terms of numbers being allowed on track while all owners are finding it tough to accept an owner’s experience with such limited interaction with trainer and jockey. Many are choosing to stay at home and watch it on TV, which is fine but a bit sad I feel. People do understand the restrictions have been imposed by government but with so many mixed messages it is getting harder to understand why racing, which is fundamentally an outdoor sport, has taken so long to welcome back crowds, even if they have to be reduced in number in the short term. I feel perception is winning the battle over common sense right now.

Hopefully the forthcoming racegoer test days will give rise to the above because ultimately we are an entertainment industry. To a certain extent you could say that prize-money doesn’t come into that part of the business, but there are many reasons why prize-money is important. Firstly, having some reward for your investment allows smaller owners and syndicate members to subsidise their reinvestment in the sport year after year. Then of course there is the competition we face from fellow racing nations such as France, Ireland, America, Hong Kong and Australia, where the prize-money pools are far greater. [Editor’s Note: The pilot project for fans at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting was cancelled after Wednesday’s card due to government directives.]

As John Gosden has already warned so eloquently, we run the risk of becoming a nursery for other nations, and it is clear that an increasing number of good horses are being bought to race on overseas. It is vital for Britain’s stature in the racing world that we are able to retain a far greater number of our better horses, not only to put on the best racing, but eventually for the best of them to join the breeding pool. Prize-money is also vital for trainers, jockeys and stable staff and without their percentages, training fees may be forced even higher than they currently are.

Most owners realise that if they have a bad horse they are going to win little or no money, but if you are lucky enough to have a horse rated 90 or 100 on the flat and you are running for £10,000 to the winner, then even if you win you’ve barely paid half of your annual training fees. This is very far from the situation experienced by owners in most other racing nations, where they can at least cover their annual costs with a decent win or two.

If owners felt confident that the racecourses, especially the big racecourse groups, were doing as much as they could to ease the situation then that would be fine, but there’s been a lot of uncertainty surrounding the funding mechanism and size of the growing media rights pot for years, not just since the onset of COVID-19. The lack of transparency over media rights and what the racecourses are actually being paid for owners running their horses at their tracks remains a sticking point. Some independent racecourses have commendably opened their books in recent times but the large racecourse groups continue to frustrate, not least as the business model for some of their tracks (i.e the all-weather tracks) hasn’t actually changed as significantly as it has for the majority who rely so heavily on crowds.

I know racing can be perceived as an elitist sport but we need people to be involved at all levels and for more owners to be brought into racing. For that, we need to support the grassroots of the sport and provide the appropriate aspiration to own horses and ‘buy a dream’. It will be interesting to see how the field sizes hold up this autumn when the fixture list resumes as normal. To be honest, a reduced pool of horses and resulting increased competition for runners going forwards could be a good thing as, while price elasticity isn’t exclusive to racing, it might force some tracks to prioritise executive contribution into prize-money.

From the syndicate members I have been speaking to, there is a concern about coming back in next year, especially if they feel that they will be unable to go to see their horse run, and at the moment, only a handful of syndicate members are granted access to a racecourse even if they have a runner.

I have a few shares in horses myself in France but I could never afford to do that here. In Britain, we are never going to have a Tote monopoly like they do in France, but there are a few things they do there that we could try here. For example, the Quinté + handicap which is run in France every day. I don’t see why that wouldn’t work here, to have a feature handicap that is a daily betting focal point, with a premier race and a secondary race, and guaranteeing 16 runners and good prize-money.

Ultimately, of course, it is so important that horsemen, racecourses and bookmakers all work together. It is very easy to criticise but it’s so much harder to come up with solutions. One point that I feel sure horsemen and racecourses can certainly agree is a push for levy to be collected on a percentage of turnover rather than profits and for levy to apply on overseas horse racing bets. That would make a huge difference, and it would benefit racecourses as well as horsemen.

The post Op/Ed: Owning Horses and ‘Buying’ a Dream appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Doncaster Back Behind Closed Doors

After around 2,500 spectators were admitted on the opening day of Doncaster’s St Leger Festival on Wednesday as part of a pilot project for reintroducing fans to sporting events, the remainder of the festival will be behind closed doors with Prime Minister Boris Johnson once again limiting gathers to six people. The directive came from the Doncaster Council. A crowd of about 6,000 had been expected for the G1 St Leger on Saturday.

“We have had confirmation this afternoon from the local authority that we will not be able to admit a crowd to the final three days of the St Leger Festival, Thursday 10 to Saturday 12 September,” said Mark Spincer, managing director of racecourse owner Arena Racing Company’s racing division. “The race meeting will continue on a ‘behind closed doors’ basis, as per all other race meetings currently taking place in Britain.

“This pilot event represents a hugely important step not just for our business but for the whole of British racing as well as the sports and hospitality industries as a whole. We do, of course, fully understand and respect the decision and will be contacting all of our customers booked for the remaining three days as a matter of urgency. We were pleased to work closely with Doncaster Council to set up this pilot event in the manner that we had, but matters beyond anyone’s control, and the data regarding local rates that have come to light today, mean we will not be able to welcome a crowd from Thursday onwards.”

Dr. Rupert Suckling, director of public health for Doncaster, said in a statement, “The current rate of infection for the borough currently stands at 10.6 infections per 100,000 people which I have been updated on today and this is an increase due to a range of factors including an increase in testing and a lag in the test results coming in. Therefore on the grounds of public health and public safety, I have instructed the racecourse to hold the St Leger Festival behind closed doors from tomorrow. I appreciate this decision may not be met with universal agreement but it is the safest and most appropriate way to move forward for everyone’s best interests in the borough and beyond.”

The post Doncaster Back Behind Closed Doors appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post