open letter | Horse Racing Free Tips

California Senator Dianne Feinstein issued a letter Wednesday to The Stronach Group (TSG), which owns Golden Gate Fields, requesting answers to the reasons behind the planned closure of the track at the end of the year, and the impacts from the company's decision on other industry sectors.

Since TSG announced on July 15 with a short statement light on detail the closure of Golden Gate Fields–a momentous decision that figures to upend a way of life for many in California–the company has remained publicly mum when pressed about the decision.

“I appreciate the steps The Stronach Group has taken in recent years to address equine safety and welfare concerns at your tracks and for your ongoing operation of Santa Anita Park. Nevertheless, your decision to close Golden Gate Fields will affect many California residents and merits further explanation,” wrote Feinstein, in a letter posted on the senator's website. The Los Angeles Times first reported the missive.

In the letter, Feinstein details the following questions that she enjoins the company to answer:

What is your rationale for closing Golden Gate Fields and why did you choose December 2023 as the closure date?
Will you help employees of Golden Gate Fields find other work in the horseracing industry or elsewhere? If so, which employees and how? Will you offer them positions at the other racetracks you operate?
What are the plans for the land?
How will the closure impact the other track you operate at Santa Anita Park?

“Golden Gate Fields has hosted horse racing since 1941 and is the last remaining full-time horse racing track in Northern California. As you have noted, your decision will have profound impacts on the livelihoods of the permanent and race-day employees at Golden Gate Fields as well as regional horse owners, trainers, jockeys, and stable personnel that consider it their home track,” Feinstein wrote.

Feinstein's letter follows TDN's own efforts to elicit answers from TSG about the closure of Golden Gate.

Between July 16 and July 24, TDN submitted each day to TSG a series of questions covering a variety of issues. TSG responded only once. “For now, the [Sunday] statement is going to be our comment around the story. We look forward to being in touch in the future about our plans,” wrote Stefan Friedman, a TSG spokesperson.

In light of the ongoing information blackout, the TDN published those questions on Monday in an open letter to the company, asking when stakeholders can expect the details they need to make tough long-term business decisions.

Feinstein has inserted herself before in this manner into California racing industry matters.

In late 2021 after the sudden death of GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico), Feinstein called on the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) to conduct a “thorough, transparent and independent investigation.”

The post Senator Feinstein Pens Letter to Stronach Group About Golden Gate Closure appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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As the deadline looms for congress to insert language into the full year-end omnibus spending bill to fix constitutional question marks surrounding the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), proponents and critics of the law have taken to an epistolary standoff.

Last week, trainers Wesley Ward and Larry Rivelli issued a letter through the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) critiquing various aspects of the national program for “too many flaws, missteps and costs that could have been averted with true inclusion and transparency in its development.”

Earlier this week, HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus conducted a zoom conference with Ward, along with attorney and former trainer Darrell Vienna, to grapple with the points raised in Ward's letter.

Issued Wednesday, Vienna released his own open letter to Lazarus, addressing six main points that he said were discussed during Monday's zoom conference.

The topics cover Vienna's thoughts on the financial assessments, the way in which therapeutic and illegal substances have been divided, the new system of detection times and screening limits vs. the old system of withdrawal guidelines and thresholds, HISA's environmental contamination policy, industry input into HISA's working framework, and the new whip rules.

Substantively speaking, Vienna's letter overlaps the contents of an open letter Charles Scheeler, the chair of the HISA board of directors, issued Tuesday addressing what he sees as “misinformation” about the law, in the process arguing that HISA's drug testing program protects “good-faith horsemen,” that HISA's rules “seek to protect” small racetracks and racing jurisdictions, and that HISA has “consistently sought feedback from horsemen” across the country. Read Scheeler's full letter here.

In his open letter, Vienna writes that there is “an apparent and obvious inequity” in the way HISA has calculated its fee assessments.

“For example,” writes Vienna, “Charles Town's annual purse money ($35,000,000) and Keeneland's annual purse money ($32,000,000) are similar; however, Keeneland's HISA Assessment is half of Charles Town's HISA assessment.”

Vienna also takes issue with HISA's environmental contamination protocols, which appear to include only a slim number of substances.

“The vast majority of prohibited substances are not subject to the Atypical Findings Policy. The Policy only applies to initial findings of HISA specified substances, endogenous substances, ractopamine, zilpaterol, and substances not listed on the Prohibited Substances list,” Vienna writes.

“Contrary to HISA's assertion of trainer friendliness, HISA's policy is among the most trainer unfriendly contamination policies in horseracing because it excludes a vast number of substances from the Atypical Findings Policy,” Vienna adds.

Ultimately, writes Vienna, “HISA rules have not been so tested and do not appear superior to ARCI model rules. Rather than rewriting the book, it may be better to see those model rules adopted and enforced uniformly throughout racing jurisdictions. If there was a concerted effort toward that goal, I believe that uniform racing and medication rules would already be the law of the land.”

Read Vienna's full letter here.

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