Open Letters to the Industry | Horse Racing Free Tips

The National HBPA was approached by trainers Wesley Ward and Larry Rivelli to help facilitate this open letter to the industry. While this is being distributed by the National HBPA, which also assisted in putting the letter together, the sentiments are those of trainers Wesley Ward, Larry Rivelli and the undersigned horsemen and racing participants. They encourage others who agree with this letter to add their name by using the link here and below. More than 400 have signed up in 24 hours just from word of mouth. Because of time constraints, not all the names have been uploaded to the document (linked to here and elsewhere)–but they will be.

We, the undersigned, commit to being part of the solution in making the industry we love better, safer and improved for the three entities that make it all possible: horseplayers, horse owners and especially the horses.

In that regard, we believe the Horse Racing Integrity & Safety Act and the private Authority to which it delegates governmental powers has too many flaws, missteps and costs that could have been averted with true inclusion and transparency in its development.

Time and time again over the last several years, trainers have been asked to change. When those changes were for the good of the horse and the industry, we changed and adapted without any questioning. We now need to rally together for additional true, positive and lasting change for the good then we are ready to do just that.

However, meaningful change cannot be accomplished until the leadership of all stakeholders have real representation at the table–and from the beginning. That includes the National HBPA, America's largest organization representing Thoroughbred owners and trainers; the Association of Racing Commissioners International, whose years of hard work on model rules should be the starting point rather than largely ignored; the racetrack veterinarians, and the Jockeys' Guild.

We have the opportunity now to get this right, with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruling HISA unconstitutional and the Federal Trade Commission declining to approve HISA's drug and medication rules that were to go into effect Jan. 1.

HISA is a wake-up call for the hard work of transformative change, though it is unfair to say there has been no change over the past couple of decades. There is far more uniformity than differences among racing jurisdictions.

Horsemen, including the National HBPA and its affiliates, have championed uniform rules based on science for years. Change in horse racing has come rapidly when it makes sense and truly is for the better of the industry. How quickly did it take us to get rid of anabolic steroids? Very.

We know horsemen can no longer sit on the sidelines, as many have done in the past, to now get this done right. We need to speak up, because we are experiencing the consequences when we do not.

We are extremely concerned about the price tag of HISA threatening to put small tracks and small stables out of business because, simply put, they cannot afford the cost. Horse racing cannot survive on only the largest circuits and with only the largest stables. We need venues for all classes of horses and all sizes of stables in order to support a healthy, sustainable Thoroughbred industry.

Small tracks and stables are a vital part of American racing's fabric, developing race fans and generations of future horsemen, and should not be considered as simply collateral damage.

Among other things we believe should be part of the dialogue as we work together:

There must be transparency and representation in both developing and executing the rules.

We, too, want stiff penalties for those succeeding in or attempting to circumvent the rules. But we also believe in due process.

Drug and medication policies that reflect the world in which we live, including the reality of environmental transfer and contamination of impermissible substances in trace levels that don't impact a horse's performance. We need to take a page from human testing, with reasonable, science-based screening levels.

“Gotcha” chemistry–finding a substance in single-digit picograms (parts per trillion) because today's advance testing can–that ensnares innocent parties is not helpful. One source of any negative public perception of racing is because some in leadership have conflated beneficial therapeutic medications with illegal drugs.

Horsemen and jockeys must have more say in developing safety rules, including crop regulations. While science is important, racing will only benefit from policies that allow for input from horsemen and veterinarians in the trenches.

We don't need cost-prohibitive government overreach with burdensome paperwork that takes away from what should be our main focus: our horses.

We, the undersigned, are committing today to push our fellow horsemen, racetracks and racing regulators to unite for positive, inclusive change. We've gotten our wake-up call. We look forward to working with the other stakeholders in our great industry for change done right.

The post Open Letter to the Industry: We’ll Push for Positive Change, Flawed HISA is Not Answer appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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In 1958, Lexington became the first community in the U.S. to institute an Urban Service Boundary to protect the farmland that is our identity. Last week, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Board of Adjustment approved a 12-field soccer complex and 750 parking spaces in the Agricultural-Rural zone. This decision threatens the historic precedent set by those who had the foresight and determination to safeguard this community's most important resource with potential consequences that would negatively impact generations to come. The land in question is immediately adjacent to equine and agricultural operations that are the pillars of both our local economy and Lexington's proud identity as the Horse Capital of the World. In approving the proposal, the Board of Adjustment also took the highly unusual step of removing the most critical of the 19 conditions recommended by the City of Lexington's professional planning staff to preserve the integrity of the Agricultural-Rural zone should the project move forward.

This decision was just the first step in Lexington Sporting Club's multi-faceted plan that would disrupt Lexington's Bluegrass farmland as we know it. The next two steps are proposals to amend existing zoning ordinances to permit lights, concessions, and retail sales at that same complex in the rural area–an area that has been protected from this exact type of development for decades–in addition to a 10,000-person stadium and thousands of surface parking spaces in the nearby Economic Development zone.

Fayette Alliance supports bringing professional and youth soccer and the corresponding infrastructure to Lexington. However, we must do so in a responsible manner that protects our trademark industries and the productive farmland that makes Lexington unique. We already find ourselves on a slippery slope: together, these proposals would allow intense commercial uses in the rural area. They represent a major change from Lexington's nearly 70 years of thoughtful growth policies and the consequences, if approved, will long outlive us all.

At the Board of Adjustment hearings, dozens of community members voiced their opposition to the development, highlighting the adverse impacts it would have on their livelihoods, the agricultural and equine industries, and the surrounding environment. The approval of the soccer fields and parking lot was a disappointing dismissal of the valid concerns of the citizens of Lexington and its city planners. The result, including the Board of Adjustment's unprecedented move to gut the most important of the planning staff's recommendations, all but ignores this community's longstanding support for the balance between urban and rural uses of the land that we have worked tirelessly to maintain.

This decision, and those that will come before the Planning Commission later this month, could set a dangerous precedent for our community. They put our rural area at risk by opening it up to similar intense development throughout Lexington-Fayette County. Where will we draw the line if the physical Agricultural-Rural zone boundaries and conditions outlined by our own city planning staff are so readily ignored from the start? Fayette Alliance isn't waiting around to find out; our founding mission is to advocate to protect the finite resource that is our Bluegrass farmland for generations to come. To this end, we are appealing the Board of Adjustment's decision and filing an Open Records request to understand how last Tuesday's vote resulted in not only the approval of a proposal that saw near-universal opposition throughout the meeting, but also the inexplicable decision to eliminate the most protective of the 19 recommendations made by planning staff.

On Thursday, July 28, the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the next phases of the project, which threaten both our rural area and the job creation for which our economic development land is explicitly designated. Aside from the obvious concerns voiced by the community about these proposals–from light and noise pollution to storm water runoff and safety issues–the farmland that is under threat features finite, prime soil for agricultural uses that can never be replaced. The economic development land is zoned as such because it is critical to our community's economic success; acres upon acres of parking lots certainly are not. If these proposals are approved, there is no going back. No do-over.

The decisions we make about land-use today have a far greater impact on our children's futures than a worthy soccer program located on the prime soils that form the foundation of our unique community and its signature industry. While soccer can be played at other existing facilities, our farmland is irreplaceable. If you share our fundamental belief in the need to protect our hallowed Bluegrass land, please join us in attending the Planning Commission meeting on July 28th at 1:30pm at City Hall and make your voice heard in opposition to these proposals. We must stay engaged and demand transparency from Lexington Sporting Club around this project; our community has too much at stake to let this pass.

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