“Our executive committee and volunteers are working hard to pull together another series of great events across the country in addition to growing the membership and tackling the other priorities identified at the 2023 Summit,” said HRWS Chair Stephanie Hronis. “We look forward to fostering opportunities to engage, elevate and invest in women to transform our sport of horse racing.”

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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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Panels at the 2023 Symposium will include:

• Computer Assisted Wagering–The Good, The Bad, and The Future
• Out of the Shadows–Shining a Spotlight on Mental Health and Emotional Wellness
• The Path Forward–Race Track Safety and the Anti-Doping & Medication Control Program
• Strengthening Your Simulcast Content–Maximizing Handle in Diverse International Betting Markets
• From Data to Dollars–Understanding Horse Racing's Economic Impact as Racing's Future is Questioned
• Land for Sale. How Will Race Track Closures Impact the Industry's Long-Term Sustainability?

One of the highlights of the Symposium will be the “Legends of the Game–Racing's Iconic Turf Writers” featuring esteemed journalists Steve Crist, Andy Beyer and Jay Privman.

Pre-conference sessions will set the stage for the Syposium's opening evening reception on Dec. 4 and will include:

• HISA Workshop for State Regulators and Stewards
• 3rd Annual Racing Secretaries Summit
• Track Surface Regulatory Requirements
• NTRA Handicapping Contest Workshop

Prospective attendees are encouraged to register by Nov. 17 to take advantage of a $100 discount and Ventana Canyon is offering reduced room rates of $189 for attendees. Registration for the Symposium and hotel reservations can be completed at RacingSymposium.com, where a list of the speakers may also be found.

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“The broad cross-section of North American and international participants, representing all pari-mutuel racing breeds, makes the Global Symposium on Racing the largest industry-wide conference in the world,” said RTIP Chair Robert Hartman. “The panel discussions and workshops, along with networking functions, allow for unique knowledge sharing opportunities.”

The 2023 Symposium will include discussions on subjects like:

HISA in 2024 and Beyond; Computer-Assisted Wagering–The Good, The Bad, and the Future; Land For Sale–How Will Race Track Closures Impact the Industry's Long-Term Sustainability?;

Embracing Change–Are We Ready to Adopt Category 1 Rules In the US?; Out of the Shadows–Shining a Spotlight on Mental Health and Emotional Wellness; From Data to Dollars–Understanding Horse Racing's Economic Impact as Racing's Future is Questioned; Legends of the Game–Racing's Iconic Turf Writers; Updates & Path Forward–HISA's Racetrack Safety and Anti-Doping & Medication Control Programs; TPA Mark Kaufman Workshop–Protocols and Communication Strategies for Equine and Jockey Injuries.

Scheduled workshops include: Track Surface Regulatory Requirements; 3rd Annual Racing Secretaries Summit; HISA Workshop for State Regulators and Stewards NTRA/NHC Workshop.

For more information, visit RacingSymposium.com.

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Yet Simon Fraser, the senior vice president in charge OF international simulcast signal distribution for 1/ST Content, made his case effectively by drawing upon his experiences in managing the content rights, data, odds and signals on behalf of a broad portfolio of global partners who work with the world's leading fixed-odds, spread-betting and commingled wagering companies.

“One of the points that I've learned over the years is that racing is an inherently local sport. It isn't a global sport. It's a very local sport,” Fraser said.

As example, he pointed out that racetrackers worldwide, “all speak a version of the same language, and we all can understand each other when we talk.”

But when a bettor from one part of the planet opens up a racing publication or looks at past-performance data from another corner of the globe, it can be very difficult for them to interpret the information with enough familiarity to confidently place a wager.

Other local/global differences exist. Think fixed odds-versus-mutuels, dirt-versus-turf, jumps-versus- flats. Now toss into the mix different rules and officiating styles, plus the inherent disorientation of working across multiple time zones.

“To take advantage of the fact that people really do like racing, and they like to bet on racing internationally, you have to react to what the local market needs,” Fraser said. “First of all, the local product has to be right. If the local product isn't right, then it doesn't matter what happens internationally. And all of the revenue that you're really going to make to make the local product right comes from the local market. Anything international is just the cherry on top.

“Now, when you do the local product right, you can take it to countries and you can adapt it, and you can work with local partners and local betting companies and local journalists to turn that product into a suitable product for that market.”

Fraser gave the specific example of selling North America simulcast signals to Turkey, where the only wager routinely attractive to players in that market is a Pick Six. That means his focus on providing content to that market revolves around providing six strongly bettable races.

“But that work for Turkey doesn't translate to Italy,” Fraser explained. “It doesn't translate to Australia. It's very specific for that market, and you have to do everything differently for each market.”

Bill Nader, currently the president and chief executive officer for the Thoroughbred Owners of California, drew upon his decades of executive-level experience with the New York Racing Association and the Hong Kong Jockey Club to remind his U.S.-based audience that global participation is a two-way street.

“Not just America trying to find out what it can gain from venturing outside the country, but also horses coming in and running in our races, and trying to capitalize, from their own way, on global participation,” Nader said.

As a prime example, Nader cited the recent rise in international prominence for Japan-based Thoroughbreds. He, too, tied in that global shift to what's happening locally in Japan.

“You don't really see the top Japanese horses running in the [GI] Breeders' Cup Turf, because at that time of the year they have their own races. But in the dirt program, they don't. So where will they go? They'll go to where dirt racing is at the center of the global universe, America, and target [Grade I] races like the [G] Kentucky Derby, the [GI] Belmont Stakes, and the Breeders' Cup,” Nader said. “In Japan, there's only one Grade I race on dirt. And I think that's their next chapter, and they'll develop more with their dirt program in the next five to 10 years.”

Maybe not so much in sprint races, Nader postulated. But because Japan's bloodstock program is adept at cultivating runners that excel between nine and 12 furlongs, their horses as a whole tend to be, “stronger in more [of] the staying races,” he said.

“You've seen the broodmares that they continue to buy, especially here in America. They're just getting stronger and stronger. But I do think that eventually, they'll come for us on the dirt. And when they do, it's a good thing.”

Why good for American entities?

“Because if a Japanese horse is running in those races, all of Japan is watching. The benefit of that is incredible,” Nader said, in terms of long-term, trickle-down economics.

At one point, Fraser was asked what a typical, mid-level American racetrack can do to stand out to international bettors.

“One thing to remember is internationally, people don't necessarily know what is a mid-range [American] track [or] what is a top track. I know that might come as a surprise,” he said.

“Some of what you would think of as mid-range tracks are very popular internationally because they run on the right days. They run on days when there is not much going on. So if you are in the winter on the East Coast, there's not a lot of evening racing happening in France, or the U.K., or in Ireland during the winter. So those tracks that run Tuesday are pretty prominent tracks [overseas]. Whereas some of the bigger tracks that all run on Saturday and are crowding against each other don't get much share or voice.”

Data compatibility across different cultures is a topic that has percolated at racing's international conferences since the advent of global simulcasting. Tuesday's panel discussion re-examined the issue.

Dean McKenzie, the managing director for McKenzie Sport International, Ltd. in New Zealand, noted that bettors in other parts of the world are baffled when they encounter an American equipment change listed simply as blinkers on or off. They're used to being able to find out exactly what type of blinkers are being used among the many variations. And if a trainer decides to tell his rider to switch running-style tactics, in many foreign jurisdictions that gets communicated to the public via stewards.

Nader noted that gamblers in other parts of the world are used to judging a horse's fitness based on its body weight, which is a standard and widely available stat outside of the U.S. but practically unheard of here except for a couple of brief experiments at various tracks.

Tallulah Wilson, the head of international partnerships for UK Tote, pointed out that global rules conflicts, such as a horse running for “purse money only” in a big race like the Breeders' Cup, can create significant confusion. (Such a concept is unheard of outside the U.S.)

But, Wilson added, stakeholders have to overcome these sorts of challenges.

“You have to adapt for the benefit of your customers,” she said.

When Fraser chimed in on the topic of what U.S. content providers need to do right to be more  internationally appealing, he pinpointed two nagging issues that the American racing industry has long debated but just can't seem to get right: offering decent field sizes and adhering to published post times.

“Eight-plus runners, and [going] off on time is crucial,” Fraser said.

Although the tie-in went unspoken by anyone on the panel, that final comment from Fraser dovetailed neatly with his initial point about racing entities needing to optimize local practices before trying to scale up to the global level.

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Dorman was born with the rare genetic disorder Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome and is unable to walk or communicate without utilizing a tablet. The now 16-year-old first met an unnamed foal by champion Curlin when Godolphin hosted Cody and his family during Keeneland's Make-A-Wish Day in 2018. From their first meeting, the colt always showed an uncanny interest in Cody and those visits gave Cody the strength to continue through some incredibly tough times. And Cody's Wish has never lost a race with Cody in attendance.

“Cody has brought to the forefront what it means to be strong and brave in his personal life as well as highlighting the extraordinary interaction that occurs between horses and humans,” said Wendy Davis, TPA president. “He gives inspiration to us all.”

The Big Sport of Turfdom award will be presented at the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program's annual awards luncheon Dec. 6. The luncheon is part of the 2022 Global Symposium on Racing at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, Arizona.

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The Symposium offers an opportunity to network with colleagues and interact with industry peers; all while supporting the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program (RTIP). This year, all RTIP alumni will receive free registration to the conference and special events are planned to reconnect the broad alumni base.

To register for the Symposium, visit www.racingsymposium.com

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Here are some takeaways from the day's presentations and discussions, which included four segments focused on HISA, a keynote address from new National Thoroughbred Racing Associations president and CEO Tom Rooney, and a high-powered panel featuring the top executives of four major racetrack organizations: 1/ST Racing (The Stronach Group), Del Mar, Keeneland and the New York Racing Association.

HISA Drug Testing Will Be Phased In

Charles Scheeler, the chairman of HISA, outlined the progress the organization has made during a very compressed timeline from passage of the legislation in December 2020 until its mandated launch July 1. A board of directors and chairman was named in May 2021, interim staff including a CEO was hired in July, when meetings and collaboration with the presumed enforcement arm, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), began. In September, stakeholder talks started, along with meetings with current state regulators. HISA presented its draft of proposed safety regulations to the FTC on the eve of the Symposium. It requested and received a waiver from the FTC to delay submission of proposed anti-doping and medication policies for at least 10 days (until Dec. 16). Draft anti-doping/medication regulations shared with industry organizations were met with considerable feedback. The FTC will conduct public register review in January and February and the rules must be approved by March 1 – four months in advance of HISA's launch.

Scheeler said the final regulations approved “will not be perfect” or “written in stone.”

When HISA does begin operations on July 1, it will only conduct out-of-competition testing, leaving post-race testing and adjudication of any violations from those tests in the hands of the state racing commissions for the rest of the year. Scheeler said HISA would take over post-race testing on Jan. 1, 2023. HISA would adjudicate any violations detected from out-of-competition tests.

Scheeler said HISA also hopes to work with racing commissions when it begins post-race testing to use existing personnel for race-day blood and urine collections, adding that if something isn't broken HISA is not interested in fixing it.

Technology And Big Data Will Be Critical

Scheeler and Dr. Susan Stover, a HISA board member and chair of the Racetrack Safety Committee, spoke about the importance of technology and data to HISA's success. The “transformational database” referred to by Scheeler would include information on both covered persons and covered horses and provide trainers and owners an interface to report whenever a horse's location changes, an important component for out-of-competition testing.

Stover, whose breakthrough research at the University of California-Davis has led to greater understanding of injury prevention, said the opportunity to collect comprehensive data is extremely important for racing to reduce the rate of fatal or serious injuries and for the sport to maintain what she called its Social License to Operate (SLO) with the public.

Stover pointed out that the United States has in recent years reduced its rate of fatal injuries per thousand starts by 40% but still has a rate higher than in the United Kingdom, Australia/New Zealand and Hong Kong. “We have work to do,” she said.

Dr. Sue Stover (right) and Ann McGovern

Fatalities aren't the only concern to Stover, who said 3% of horses at the tracks are taken out of training each month, an attrition rate she estimated costs nearly $82 million to horse owners every month.

Some form of pre-existing condition was detected in almost 90% of fatally injured horses she has examined over the years, Stover said. Factors that led to increased risk included corticosteroid injections, recent lameness and abnormalities in pre-race exams. Stover said data collected on training intensity (speed works at longer distances) may help HISA develop best training practices, especially for horses coming off layoffs.

Racetrack accreditations by HISA will be phased in, with tracks currently accredited by the NTRA getting an interim three-year accreditation with HISA, provided they make good faith efforts in certain areas and adhere to data reporting requirements.

Ann McGovern, a racetrack safety committee member, said in response to a question from the audience that tracks that fail to be accredited will lose their ability to conduct interstate wagering.

HISA/USADA Price Tag Remains a Mystery

Scheeler said HISA was not yet in position to submit a budget for HISA operations, in part because it does not have a contract with USADA. Costs, he said, would also depend in part on how things are worked out with state racing commissions. “It will cost money,” Scheeler said, “but this is an investment.” He compared the industry's failure to advance safety and anti-doping programs to bridges and roads crumbling because of the lack of infrastructure investment. Some of that investment will be in what Scheeler described as a “powerful and rigorous investigation program” similar to the 5Stones Investigations unit hired by The Jockey Club that investigated many of the trainers, veterinarians and drug suppliers who were indicted on federal charges in March 2020.

In a separate panel, Ed Martin, president of the Association of Racing Commissioners International, said language in the bill that created HISA was flawed because it does not require state racing commissioners to help with funding. “They made a mistake with this bill,” said Martin. “They allowed the states to walk away.” Martin suggested that state budget directors will withdraw funding for horse racing regulations and drug testing once they find out they aren't required to help fund HISA.

Therapeutic Medication List Still Being Developed

A group that included Adolpho Birch, HISA board member and chair of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Committee, reviewed how medication violations will be adjudicated, separating primary (most serious) and secondary (therapeutic) drug positives.

Jeff Cook, general counsel for USADA, said a goal will be to adjudicate cases more quickly: four weeks when doping violations for secondary medications are challenged and eight weeks for primary drugs. A national stewards panel will adjudicate the secondary cases with an arbitrator used for the more serious violations. Cases can also be appealed to an FTC administrative law judge.

Two notable changes from the current process are that split samples would not go to a lab of the trainer's choosing and public disclosure of complaints may come as soon as the trainer is notified.

Birch, general counsel for the Tennessee Titans, served previously as the NFL's top anti-doping officials and helped draft the league's drug policies. Birch said the NFL was struggling with controlling the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs, with some players dying from drugs and others feeling the need to cheat to compete. “If we didn't change,” he said, “the sport was going to suffer irreparably.”

Dr. Tessa Muir, USADA's director of equine science, said the HISA Anti-Doping and Medication Control Committee is still in the process of drafting a therapeutic medication list and screening limits for those drugs.

Mr. Rooney Goes Back To Washington

In his keynote address – his first as NTRA president and CEO – former Florida Congressman Tom Rooney said his mission will be to represent the horse industry in Washington, D.C., where he served five terms in the House of Representatives, from 2009-'19.

Rooney succeeds Alex Waldrop, who served as NTRA chief executive for 15 years. Waldrop was honored on Tuesday by the Race Track Industry Program with the Clay Puett Award for outstanding contributions to the industry.

From a family that owns the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers and has been involved in Thoroughbred, Standardbred and Greyhound racing, Rooney brings a solid resume to the position. As a former member of Congress, he understands how important it is to have an industry representative in the nation's capital.

That's never more important than today, he said, referencing high profile events like the sudden death of Medina Spirit, the first-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, and the fact that “our opponents have not gone away and they never, ever will go away.”

Incoming NTRA president and CEO Tom Rooney

Rooney's family owns the Palm Beach Kennel Club in Florida, where Greyhound racing was recently eliminated in a state-wide vote.

Rooney said he will work to support a smooth transition to HISA, help racing benefit from sports betting and maintain favorable tax benefits for horse owners.

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Roberts Communications Network (RCN) will make the stream available on the Racetrack Television Network (RTN), with all proceeds from the sales going back to the RTIP.

“The Global Symposium on Racing is the pre-eminent racing conference, and we are very excited to be able to bring it to people around the world,” said RCN and RTN President and CEO Todd Roberts. “Furthermore, we felt it was very important to donate the money generated by the sales back to the RTIP program to help support everything they do for the industry.”

The agenda for this year's Symposium includes panels on wide ranging topics, including various reports from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), industry leaders sharing their three-year plan, ways to increase field size, seizing the fixed odds and sports betting opportunities, growing sponsorship revenue, and much more.

“We are thrilled to stream the Symposium to a global audience for the first time,” said RTIP Chair Robert Hartman. “While there will be a huge turnout of industry attendees, we also understand that travel may not be possible for some, and felt it was important to make these panel sessions available to everyone. We are very appreciative of RCN's help in this endeavor and especially their generosity in donating all of the proceeds back to the Program.” 

The live streaming package, which also includes archived sessions of each panel, will be available for a $195 purchase on the RTN.tv website, enabling people to watch on tablets, smartphones, and PC's, and on televisions through Roku devices and Amazon Fire TV.

For more information on the Symposium, including a full agenda, visit the website at https://ua-rtip.org/symposium/. 

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Since accepting the University of Arizona position in June, Hartman is responsible for putting together a strong agenda for the annual Global Symposium on Racing, to be held at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson Dec. 6-8. For more information and to take advantage of the early registration discount (through Nov. 19), click here.

Hartman discussed the Race Track Industry Program and this year's Symposium in a Q&A with publisher Ray Paulick.

The RTIP and Symposium on Racing are separate but obviously intertwined. What were your short- and long-term goals for each when you became chair of the RTIP?

I see this as a rebuilding year for both the RTIP and the Global Symposium on Racing. The short-term goal for the RTIP is to increase student enrollment. The pandemic has a negative effect on college enrollment. Growing student enrollment begins with getting our message out to those who want an equine-related career.

If you were to look at the RTIP's past performances, the students who have come through the Program have made an impact in every facet of our industry.  We offer generous scholarship programs, summer internships, and the hands-on learning experience that prepare students to contribute to racing organizations on Day 1. Longer-term, we are looking to expand our curriculum to reflect changes in the industry. Students will need to understand gaming, sports wagering, and new technologies.

The Symposium lost a bit of its luster from its heyday when most industry organizations held meetings in conjunction with our event. When I was a student, all key industry stakeholders attended the conference, and the agenda focused on the key issues facing the industry. We provided a forum for meaningful debate and the students benefitted from listening to this exchange of ideas. Students and racing industry leaders also had the chance to interact, which benefited both groups. Our goal for this year's Symposium was to put together a powerful agenda with a strong lineup of speakers with the intent of reigniting that sense of debate and engagement and building anticipation for next year's Symposium. We also reached out to racing industry media to come back to cover the event. Our longer-term goal is to get the Symposium back on the map as the one key conference that industry stakeholders want to attend every year.

The agenda and speaker lineup for the Symposium is very impressive, with top executives of some of the biggest tracks participating. How did that come together and what do you see as the highlights?

I spent most of June and July reaching out to the industry. These listening sessions with stakeholders across different breeds and across different geographies served to inform me of the key issues that needed to be tackled at the Symposium. Everyone was very generous with their time, and they understand the positive impact the RTIP, and the Symposium can have on the future of the industry.

Once the topics were finalized, I went back to many of those same folks that I engaged in the listening sessions. Given their original input helped to shape the agenda, most agreed to speak without hesitation. Those who couldn't make it to Tucson used their network and found strong speakers to come aboard. Our industry has two or three “degrees of separation,” not the proverbial six degrees. So, if you use your network and the network of others, you can make a connection with anyone.

As far as highlights, I'm proud to say it's a strong program from top to bottom. The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's panels will have the most important messaging for the industry given the impact their work will have on every aspect of racing. Having Shannon Arvin, Aidan Butler, David O'Rourke, and Josh Rubinstein on a panel together to talk about their vision for the industry is another panel that I'm excited about. This panel idea came directly from one of the listening sessions I had with Aidan at Gulfstream Park.

The first Symposium was in 1974. As you look back, as a former student, racing executive, and now the head of the program, how have the RTIP and symposium evolved over the nearly 50 years it's been around?

Industry consolidation has impacted the RTIP and Symposium more than anything else. There are simply fewer people working in the industry which can translate into fewer job opportunities and fewer Symposium attendees. Interestingly, the RTIP student enrollment has consolidated as well, so there are fewer students competing for jobs. There is no question that it is easier for an RTIP graduate to get a job in the industry today than when I attended the University of Arizona. One of our students who will be graduating this year already has five job offers to choose from. I was lucky to have one job offer upon graduation. The expansion of various forms of legalized wagering has also impacted us. While we are a racing program as our core, we need to be sure to stay relevant and provide students a basic understanding of gaming, including fixed odds and sports wagering. It's not an accident that we have panel sessions on these topics. In addition to our industry stakeholders learning more about these topics, these discussions will benefit our students as well.

What are some of the key things the RTIP offers to students? Why should someone consider enrolling?

The curriculum is designed to be hands-on. We hit on every aspect of the racing industry to help prepare students to be ready to contribute to an organization upon being hired. For example, each student in our racing department class is currently working on writing a condition book. We also have a thoroughbred herd at an 80-acre farm with weanlings, yearlings and broodmares. Students interested in bloodstock will help determine the matings for these mares. They will also follow the foals from birth to being raised and being prepared for auction. The hands-on learning was evident at the Breeders' Cup when a group of our students went to Del Mar to work with the Contender Cam project. Summer internships are yet another way to gain hands-on knowledge. Internships can be diverse — we had one student intern at Lane's End this past summer while another student interned at the Thoroughbred Racing and Protective Bureau (TRPB).  The Symposium also provides a one-of-a-kind experience for our students. In addition to interacting with industry leaders and listening to the panel sessions, we have a “Meet Your Mentor” lunch when students have one-on-one time with a member of the industry of their choosing. I've spoken with some of the mentors, and they truly enjoy the interaction with the student. Of course, making such a connection is invaluable to the student. Finally, thanks to generous donors, we offer a wide array of scholarships for RTIP students. Any prospective student can reach out to me directly for more information about applying – hartmanr@arizona.edu

How does the racing industry benefit from the program and what can tracks and other organizations do to support it?

Our industry is going to need the next generation of leaders and I believe our Program prepares students for that challenge. It would be hard to find any organization in racing that hasn't been impacted by an RTIP alum. Over the past five decades, the industry has been very generous with providing internships, sponsorships, and guests lecturers to speak to our students.

The post Q&A: ‘An Impact On Every Facet Of Our Industry’; New Race Track Industry Program Chair Previews Global Symposium On Racing appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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