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Mark Casse: “I’m Not Proud Of Our Sport”

Appearing as the Green Group Guest of the Week on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse grew emotional when the subject of the rash of fatalities that have plagued the sport this year came up. Believing that the industry has not done all that it can to help alleviate the situation and that tracks must embrace a return to synthetic surfaces, Casse admitted that his outlook on his profession and the sport has changed for the worse.

“This is sad to say, but I'm not as proud to be a horse trainer as I used to be,” he said. “I'm not proud of our sport. That's sad. In my opinion, it's dangerous and I'm going to do whatever I can do to help it. Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn who I piss off or upset.”

Casse came on to discuss some of the opinions he expressed earlier in the week from a Q & A that ran in the TDN. Because he has stables at Woodbine, where all racing is conducted on either the Tapeta surface or turf, and at U.S. tracks where the predominant surface is dirt, Casse, perhaps more so than any other trainer, is well versed in the differences between the various types of surfaces. He has become an outspoken supporter of synthetic tracks and insists that U.S. racing needs to make the conversion from dirt to synthetic.

“I think it is,” he answered when asked if the time has come for dirt racing to be replaced. “We've got years and years of data that says it's far safer. The path we're going down right now is ugly and we have to do something and we have to do it quickly. It's going to take a drastic measure.”

Some believe that the end of dirt racing would be a huge blow to the breeding industry, where hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in sires and bloodlines meant to produce top-class dirt horses. Casse argues that the potential problems have been exaggerated.

“It's not as big a worry as they make it out to be,” he said. “From my experience, maybe one out of ten horses don't like synthetic. Most good horses will run on anything pretty well. And I can tell you, they'll run a lot longer and last a lot longer.”

This isn't the first time that Casse has been outspoken about industry issues. He has also been vocal about what he saw as the widespread and ill-advised use of clenbuterol. He said his only motivation is to try to make this a better, safer sport.

“I'm going to give you everything I have,” he said. “I'll go down fighting. You can only do so much but I will do my best. I'm doing my best. I'm not a good loser.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, NYRABets.com, WinStar Farm, XBTV.com, Stonestreet Farms, Lane's End and West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Zoe Cadman, Bill Finley and Randy Moss also tackled the subject of synthetic surfaces, an issue that drew more attention after a tragic Saturday afternoon at Saratoga, which included the breakdown of New York Thunder (Nyquist) in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S. All three agreed with Casse that switching to synthetics has become a necessity. There was also a look at the GI Travers. S., won by Arcangelo (Arrogate) and an admission from Moss that he underrated the horse that is now the sport's leading 3-year-old male. The team also took a look back at the remarkable career of Hall of Famer Jonathan Sheppard, who passed away this week at the age of 82.

To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To view the show as a podcast, click here.

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Adapt, Evolve, or Be Forced Out of Existence. Letter to the Editor: Amanda Luby, Welbourne Stud

In racing, there is nothing more horrific than watching a horse break down in front of you. My heart goes out to every person connected with each of the horses that has lost its life in this manner and to each fan who's witnessed this. As my husband said after Maple Leaf Mel's tragic end, “They're just innocent animals!” He left immediately after her death, horrorstruck, and, fortunately, was not at the track on Travers Day. Like countless other casual fans who've seen such awful things, it is unlikely that he will ever return to watch another race, and racing needs to understand this is the visceral reaction casual fans experience when they see these beautiful animals falter so terribly. These fans, these bettors, don't come back to the sport.

I was at Saratoga on both Whitney and Travers Day. Maple Leaf Mel and New York Thunder's injuries were the most gruesome I've ever seen in my decades in horse racing. I left the track in tears this past Saturday, having my own visceral reaction, believing strongly that NYRA should have shut down racing immediately.

A friend of mine is a crisis communications expert and she was with me this past Saturday. She's done work for the NFL and some of the world's most complex companies. She currently is the head of U.S. Communications for one of the largest law firms in the world. She has come to racing later in life, but is a horsewoman first and foremost. After witnessing New York Thunder's demise on Saturday, she summarized her thoughts below:

I get the complexities of shutting down the massive machinery of a racetrack. The business model impacts countless others that depend upon the race meet continuing. But you cannot dismiss the concerns of the public. While I can understand the need to take a broader look at the whole situation, the reality is that the optics of the breakdowns are awful. And you can't have horses running down the stretch on three legs. To give an NFL analogy, as soon as plaintiffs' lawyers could prove a causal link between football and head injuries, the sport had to change [because it risked losing everything]. Every time a horse breaks down, racing's license to operate gets shredded. Change has to happen immediately.

While I wasn't born into the sport, I've been in it my entire life. My passion for Thoroughbred racing has been a driving force in much of my professional and personal life; but this life straddles two worlds because no one else in my family or even my lifelong, closest friends are part of the sport. Because of them, I'm acutely aware of what people outside of the sport are saying. Saratoga residents who've been casual fans over the years are done. Friends around the U.S. texted me and were aghast. They were turned onto the sport because of me and now I feel responsible for the images they can't get out of their heads.

In the past few weeks, driven by this passion, I have communicated directly with various NYRA board members about my concerns and offered solutions and encouragement. This past year, with the breakdowns at last year's Breeders' Cup, on every Triple Crown Day and the country's elite meet suffering from the most awful of repeated tragedies on its biggest days…well, the damage is incalculable.

I come from a science background; and I'm a trial lawyer and general counsel by trade. I get needing to have the evidence to justify corporate decisions. However, what I don't get is being frozen and ill-prepared for such a crisis as what has befallen Saratoga this year given all of the knowledge we already have. Let's be clear, this is an industry-wide problem. We've known for years through the research of Dr. Susan Stover and others that the vast majority of catastrophic breakdowns are the result of pre-existing, micro-factures and injuries. We have observed both historical and recent patterns that breakdowns routinely occur after dirt tracks are sealed. We know rain-sodden turf tracks become uneven, slippery, and/or unsafe, particularly on the turns. We already have the data that dirt tracks are significantly more dangerous than turf; and that synthetic tracks are safer than turf. We know that biometric and diagnostic technologies can help trainers and veterinarians identify the slightest changes in horses' biomechanics and that having a standing MRI on-site at every racetrack could help veterinarians diagnose earlier and prevent fatal injuries.

The general public may not know all of these details, but it witnesses the consequences of not prioritizing safety in every aspect of the sport. Businesses cannot be so data-driven that they forget the emotions of the day, compartmentalize away the sorrowful humanity of recent events; and fail to implement immediate changes. Sometimes business needs to conduct itself with more heart. The younger, larger generations demand that; and they are the future of this sport.

I do have faith that this generational awareness is something NYRA's CEO appreciates as he regularly invites families from Saratoga's “Backyard” into the paddock to get them closer to these magnificent animals of which we are all stewards. WE ARE STEWARDS, as Jena Antonucci has reminded us this year, and that includes each track operator, racehorse owner, training operation, veterinarian, breeder, handicapper, and fan. A steward is a person who is responsible for the safety and welfare of another; and thus, it is incumbent upon each of us who professes to care for these animals to do everything in our power to ensure their well-being. This means each stakeholder, at every level, needs to adjust its business model.

What can be done now, with the information we have today?

(1) Ensure on-site access to, and immediate utilization of, the biometric and diagnostic technologies at the racetracks.

(2) Replace the dirt. The data we have NOW proves racing on synthetics is the safest. U.S. racing and breeding industry cannot keep justifying breeding for, and racing on, dirt. Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse zeroed in on that in his recent TDN interview. Every track, including each of the tracks that hosts the Triple Crown races and Breeders' Cup, needs to convert their dirt tracks to synthetic, and HISA needs to consider this as a mandate. These synthetic tracks would also ensure that races that need to come off the turf can transition safely.

(3) Breeders and owners/buyers need to get behind this; and

(4) they absolutely must, regardless of the importance of a race, empower their trainers and veterinarians to scratch horses if they have the slightest bit of concern about a horse's soundness. It is irresponsible, to say the least, to take the opposite approach.

If the sport truly puts its money where its mouth is, then it would put equine welfare first in all things and change. In the end, this sport will either adapt, evolve, or be forced out of existence by a repulsed public.

Amanda Luby, Welbourne Stud

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Op/Ed: Synthetics, Fans, and the Future of Racing

It's been another devastating month for horse racing. Even the most hardened racetrackers needed a few minutes to gather themselves when Maple Leaf Mel, steps away from a first Grade I, broke down in the Test at Saratoga on the Whitney undercard. It was a similar story on Saturday when the unbeaten New York Thunder, seemingly on his way to a spectacular victory in the GI H. Allen Jerkens, went down in mid-stretch and, in front of a crowd of 48,292, was humanely euthanized. It was the second fatality on the card, after Nobel (Ire) was put down following the day's fifth race.

Indeed, the numbers at Saratoga this meet are harrowing. New York Thunder was the eighth racing fatality. At least another four have died during morning training at Saratoga, bringing the total to 12. All 12 were trained by different trainers, including some of racing's most respected names–Christophe Clement, Graham Motion, Brendan Walsh and Kenny McPeek, among them.

Racing, it seems, just limps from one tragedy to the next.

It didn't, and doesn't, have to be like this. We've known for nearly 15 years how to reduce catastrophic breakdowns by 50% or more: synthetic tracks. I know these numbers have appeared in the TDN in recent months, but they bear repeating. According to The Jockey Club's Equine Injury database, from 2009 through 2022, there were 6,036 fatal injuries from 3,242,505 starts on dirt during the course of racing in North America.

That's a rate of 1.86 per start. (These numbers don't include fatalities that occur during morning training.)

On synthetics, there were 534 fatal injuries from 482,169 starts, a rate of 1.11. That's a 68% difference. Put another way, had dirt tracks matched the safety of synthetic tracks during that stretch, there would have been 2,437 fewer fatalities.

Despite great progress being made in California in recent years, the last two years have been even more striking. In 2021, the dirt rate (1.51) was more than twice the synthetic rate (0.73). In 2022, it was more than three times (1.44 vs. 0.41). At Gulfstream last year, there were eight fatalities from 5,886 starts on dirt, a pretty respectable 1.36. But on its synthetic track? One fatality from 7,085 starts, or a rate of just 0.14.

These stats show not just how much safer synthetic tracks are, but also illustrate why those who blame permissive medication or breeding trends are wrong. You simply wouldn't see this stark a difference between surfaces if those were the driving factors in racing fatalities.

As sad as it is, if racing continues this business-as-usual approach to racing surfaces, it's not hard to envision how all this ends: the end of the sport in all but a few parts of the country.

Most anyone could sketch the outline: the drumbeat from animal rights groups and unsympathetic media coverage gets loud enough to convince politicians to embrace either ballot referendums or the pulling of slot subsidies. The former, as it did with greyhound racing–now illegal in at least 42 states–kills horse racing jurisdictionally. The latter upends the sport's economics, depleting purse accounts and turning racing truly into the Sport of Kings, with small stables simply unable to justify the investment. Crop size, down from 40,000 in 1990 to roughly 17,000 last year, plummets further. Small breeding and stallion operations falter, with only the largest farms able to absorb the blow. Racing ultimately becomes an enterprise based largely around Kentucky and New York tracks. But once-popular tracks in Florida, California and Louisiana shutter. All the while field size dwindles and the betting product becomes less desirable.

This may take a decade or two, but we've been seeing this play out in real time, and if I was approaching 30 and not 50, I'd be very worried about my long-term prospects in the business.

Which brings us to racing's ability to attract people to it, be they horseplayers or owners or workers.

Every person reading this, and every fan and existing handicapper, myself included, has consciously or not decided that a certain level of catastrophic breakdowns isn't a disqualifying factor to our involvement in the sport. We recognize it is tragic and we mourn, but at the end of the day we conclude that our love of the sport and the animals themselves trumps that loss. But some in racing seem oblivious to the fact that there are many others who don't come to that conclusion; who have heard about the breakdowns at Santa Anita or Churchill or Saratoga and decided to do something else with their Saturday afternoons that doesn't potentially involve the death of an animal. They go to the mall, they go to the casino, they spend their disposable income elsewhere. The results of this are fewer people at the track or watching from home; fewer potential handicappers; fewer potential owners; fewer potential fans; fewer potential employees. And because there's no way to measure this, it's easy to pretend it's not happening, that jackpot wagers and bad advice from pundits and, yes, CAW wagering, are racing's biggest problems.

But talk to your friends and family outside of racing. Ask about their impressions. It's a pretty safe bet that animal welfare will be the first thing they bring up, and it's hard to believe that this isn't a huge impediment in attracting new fans. In recent weeks alone I've had several conversions with non-racing friends about the breakdowns at Churchill this past spring. A friend from NYC made the trip to Saratoga on Whitney Saturday and we spent the day texting about who to bet. After the Test, she texted, “Ah shit. I think that's it for us.” She and her husband left the track before the Whitney. Of course they did. How many people left before the Travers Saturday?

Racing's leaders have never cared to be vocal about this issue. This can't continue. Because if the current Saratoga meet has taught us anything, it's that we don't have a viable sport if we routinely break the hearts of our customers. And we can't attract new fans if people think we're not doing everything we can to protect our equine and human athletes. And right now, we aren't.

Lucas Marquardt is the owner of Thoro-Stride and a former writer for the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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‘No Evidence’ of Issues with Tracks, According to NYRA’s O’Rourke

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY. – In the wake of two fatal breakdowns during the Travers day program Saturday, New York Racing Association officials faced the questions of if they should immediately cancel the remaining races on the card at Saratoga Race Course and whether to run on Sunday. After fact-finding sessions both days, NYRA President and CEO David O'Rourke said the courses were deemed safe for competition–the jockeys were in agreement–and racing continued as scheduled.

The catastrophic leg injuries that led to two horses being euthanized Saturday brought the total of equine deaths to 12 since the start of the unusually rainy season July 13. According to the New York State Gaming Commission's Breakdown, Death, Injury and Incident Database, four of the fatalities were related to training injuries and eight to racing. Six of the eight deaths were from incidents in races run on the turf courses. Seven were musculoskeletal injuries and one was believed to be a heart attack.

The two dirt breakdowns were horrific, taking place in the stretch, with unbeaten, high-profile 3-year-old horses well on their way to victories in seven-furlong Grade I races: Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) in the GI Test S. on Aug. 5 and New York Thunder (Nyquist) in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on Saturday.

In the minutes after the New York Thunder injury, O'Rourke said NYRA had to consider whether to immediately close on the biggest day of the Saratoga season.

“Everything is going through your mind at that point,” he said.

After consulting with his staff and a number of other people, O'Rourke elected to run the remainder of the card, including the $1.25-million GI Travers S.

“I was speaking with the Gaming Commission at the same time, the stewards at the same time, about the situation that we're in,” he said. “Obviously, there's board members here. Many of them, if not most of them, are horsemen. The decision was made to continue the card because we have no evidence that there's anything going on with these racetracks.”

There were no further injuries.

After what he described as a sleepless night, O'Rourke said that he and Glen Kozak, NYRA executive vice president and track superintendent, started talking with trainers at 6:30 a.m. Sunday and later talked with jockeys and veterinarians. At 12:45 p.m., NYRA announced that the 11-race program would be held.

John Velazquez, co-chairman of the Jockeys Guild, said the riders met with O'Rourke and expressed confidence in the conditions.

“We didn't find any issues at all,” Velazquez said. “The tracks feel safe. We didn't come up with anything that we were concerned with.”

Velzaquez acknowledged that the injuries are unsettling and said that NYRA should continue its reviews.

“We've definitely had some really horrendous breakdowns,” he said. “We are very saddened about it. There are going to be more investigations and more things we have to do and hopefully we find more answers. It will be days or weeks, whatever it is, but right now the tracks feel safe and let's continue.”

Saturday, Nobel (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), an Irish-bred 4-year-old was injured in the gallop-out after the fifth race on turf. Two hours and 20 minutes later, New York Thunder broke bones in his left front leg in the Jerkens.

Immediately after Nobel's injury, O'Rourke said he, staff members and Dr. Scott Palmer, the Equine Medical Director for the Gaming Commission walked the turf course to look for problems. Since more than 11 inches of rain have fallen during the meet, prompting NYRA to move 59 races off the grass to the dirt, the rail has been placed far out in the middle of the course. On Saturday, the rails were down and the horses were running on very good turf. Still, Nobel was injured.

“We wanted to take a look at it,” O'Rourke said. “One easy solution was to pull everything off the turf. They were on fresh ground. I'm out there with experts and what I'm looking for is unanimous consensus. Not a majority. Everyone's consensus of opinion was that the turf course was in immaculate condition in the lanes we were in.”

When New York Thunder went down between the eighth pole and the sixteenth pole, O'Rourke said Kozak reviewed the surface.

“Glen installed this track and is quite familiar with moisture and the measurements and everything,” O'Rourke said. “It's nothing off about the track. I'm convinced, I'm confident in that moment of that, but I want more information. Sometimes you need more time. We made the decision to continue the card.”

Afterward, O'Rourke said the NYRA staff continued to look at the two turf courses and the dirt main track to help develop data that could be useful in Sunday's review

“This has been a tough meet, so this has been a topic,” he said. “It's not like all of a sudden we started taking a second look. After racing, the track guys are doing their thing. Some of them, I think, were here all night.”

Sunday's card was completed without incident, but O'Rourke said the investigation is far from complete. Noting that NYRA is a non-profit, he said continuing to race on Saturday and Sunday was not related to revenue, but to safety.

“This is about how do we get it right, when and how we're making decisions and why,” he said. “And my first job right now is to check off the tracks because that's the question I'm getting quite a bit. I came out of that, on that aspect, confident that every piece of information or resource that I think is applicable, that we have access to, is telling me the same thing.”

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