HISA And Oaklawn Park Designate Area For Intra-Articular Injection Treatments

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority and Oaklawn Park have launched a new pilot program under which a designated area will be available for veterinarians to administer any intra-articular corticosteroid injections at the racetrack during the track's 2023-2024 race season beginning Friday, Dec. 8, HISA said in a press release Wednesday.

As HISA laid out in its Strategic Response to recent equine fatalities, many stakeholders, including a significant number of individuals calling into HIWU's confidential tip line, have questioned whether Covered Persons are properly and accurately reporting intra-articular corticosteroid injections.

In order to address this issue and ensure injections are administered in compliance with HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control regulations, HISA proposed two possible solutions: (1) a designated area at the racetrack for all intra-articular injections to be administered; or (2) the requirement of a short video of the veterinarian performing the intra-articular injection to be uploaded with the injection report.

Oaklawn has volunteered to test the first of these potential solutions. Under this pilot program, Oaklawn will offer a designated private location at its Summer Bird Barn for intra-articular injections and will compensate Covered Persons who volunteer to have them administered there up to $250 for the first 100 intra-articular corticosteroid injections this season.

All intra-articular corticosteroid injections prescribed and administered by a veterinarian at Oaklawn must be observed in-person by the track's Integrity Officer, Beverly Fowler, or another designated racetrack employee, regardless of whether it is administered in the designated location.

The pilot program will be used to determine the feasibility and value of this approach, as well as to identify challenges that would need to be resolved for it to be successful nationally.

“HISA is thankful for Oaklawn Park's willingness to test this process, which has been used successfully in sport horses for many years,” said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus. “By testing this concept, the Oaklawn team is contributing meaningfully to HISA's efforts to make the sport safer and more transparent. Based on horsemen and veterinarian feedback and results, designated intra-articular injection treatment areas may eventually be presented to the Racetrack Safety Committee to consider promulgating a uniform rule.”

“Oaklawn Park is pleased to be a leader in equine health and safety,” said Louis Cella, President, Oaklawn Park. “It is clear to us that the sport must evolve and continue to do everything in its power to keep horses safe. We support HISA's efforts to explore new methods of ensuring safety and integrity and we appreciate our horsemen's support and engagement.”

Prior to each intra-articular injection at Oaklawn this season, the trainer or veterinarian must inform the Integrity Officer of the day and time it will be administered to ensure she or a designee are present. Injection appointments may be scheduled by calling the Integrity Officer at (501) 762-3864.

The veterinarian and Integrity Officer, or their designee, must fill out and sign an accompanying form and submit photos of the medication that is being injected. A copy of the form will be provided to the veterinarian administering the injection, the trainer, the Integrity Officer's office and the State Veterinarian.

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U of A Symposium: Trying to Find a Way Forward Amid Track Closures

A panel about racetrack closures in the prime afternoon time slot on the first day of Tuesday's Global Symposium on Racing hosted by the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program (RTIP) in Tucson had the potential to be a somber and eulogistic affair, but it did yield some interesting back-and-forth when the discussion turned to how the industry might best stem the tide of Thoroughbred venues going dark for good.

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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New Positions For Egan at Santa Anita; Hammerle at 1/ST

Veteran horseman and racing official Jason Egan was promoted as the Director of Racing and Racing Secretary for Santa Anita Park beginning Jan. 27. He served as the track's Racing Coordinator since 2020, and he was named to his new post after Chris Merz announced his desire to take a more expansive operational role in the racing industry.

Additionally, Rick Hammerle will join 1/ST Racing as a consultant. After stops in California, New Jersey and Florida, he was most recently the Racing Coordinator at Oaklawn Park and Director of Racing Operations at Kentucky Downs.

Like Hammerle, Egan is a graduate of the University of Arizona's Racetrack Industry Program. While there, Egan interned with trainer Michael Dickinson and went on to work for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.

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Arizona’s RTIP Global Symposium to be Streamed Online

The University of Arizona's Race Track Industry Program (RTIP) Global Symposium on Racing will be streamed live online by Roberts Communications Network (RCN) on the Racetrack Television Network (RTN). All proceeds from the sales will revert to the RTIP.

“We are thrilled to once again stream the Symposium to a global audience,” said RTIP Chair Robert Hartman. “While we are expecting a large group of industry attendees, we also understand that travel may not be possible for some, and feel it is 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 agenda for this year's Symposium includes panels on wide ranging topics, including an update from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU), how to capitalize on racing's global footprint, advancing equine safety through technology, integrating horse racing into the US sports betting market, strategies for diversity and inclusion, and much more.

The RTIP Global Symposium on Racing is scheduled for Dec. 5-7, 2022. For more information and the agenda click here: https://rtip.arizona.edu/2022-symposium.

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