“Tippy” The Crash Test Dummy Used To Make Equine Transport Safer

Areion Australia has made an equine crash test dummy that will be used to improve safety features in horse trailers. The company, founded by engineer Tom Hotchkin, is working on the creation of a prototype trailer that has rear-facing bays. Hauling horses in this manner means that if the trailer were to be involved in a crash, the brunt of the impact would be absorbed by the horse's hindquarters, rather than his head or neck.

“Tippy” is an 18-hand, 1,600-pound horse made of rubber. Hotchkin says that using a dummy will allow researchers to see what happens to horses involved in a trailer crash. From there, his company will be able to develop trailer technology that will better protect the horse.

The prototype trailer is made from plastic, so the surface is softer and smoother than traditional steel or aluminum trailers. It also features a patented restraint system that is like a seatbelt. The first trailers with these features are expected to be released next year.

Read more at HorseTalk.

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Los Al Quarter Horse Association Submits Equine And Rider Safety And Enhancement Plan To CHRB

In response to the suggestion of the California Horse Racing Board (the “Board”), the Los Alamitos Quarter Horse Racing Association has submitted to the Board an Equine and Rider Safety and Enhancement Plan.

The Plan provides for enhancement of practices in six specific areas:

  • Training
  • Pre-race Procedures
  • Entry Review Panel
  • Post-incident Assessments
  • Equine Illness and Recovery
  • Rules and Conditions.

Los Alamitos is soliciting comments from the Industry in general and particularly from the Board regarding content of the Plan.

Dr. Ed Allred, the owner and CEO of Los Alamitos Race Course, said that the plan is a further effort by Los Alamitos to provide for the enhanced improvement of the health and safety of each every horse and rider participating in racing and training at Los Alamitos.

Allred further stated that notwithstanding his hope that the Plan would be further improved through comments from the Industry and the Board, the changes contemplated by the Plan would be implemented immediately. For more information, please contact 714-820-2690.

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Samantha Randazzo Ready To Begin Her Role As Safety Compliance Officer At Colonial Downs

When the stable area at Colonial Downs Racetrack opens July 13, Samantha Randazzo will begin her first stint as a Safety Compliance Officer, a job that is part of the new Mid-Atlantic Strategic Plan to reduce equine fatalities. Her “Best Practices” position focuses on 23 different responsibilities to ensure all activities and practices that involve the training and racing of horses at the track meet required safety standards and regulatory guidelines.

Among her duties, she will monitor daily activities in the barn area, conduct random inspections of safety equipment like helmets and vests, serve as a member of the Mortality Review Board and conduct random checks of ship-in health papers at the stable gate, along with many others.

Randazzo brings a wealth of experience to the table. She has been a Thoroughbred trainer for 27 years and most recently, has spent six years in regulatory roles. After college, she went to work full time for trainer Linda Rice and ended up having her own division of Rice's stable in Florida for 17 years, at Monmouth for 10 years and at Saratoga for seven.

“Linda and I have a symbiotic relationship with training,” she said. “I worked for her brother Brian one summer while in college because he had younger horses and got the chance to see how they were developed and trained. When I joined Linda right after graduating, she was just starting out on her own. I'd travel with her horses when they raced at Parx or River Downs just to get more experience. I love training. It's a passion.”

Randazzo was born and raised outside of Reading, Pennsylvania, and grew up around horses at their family farm. Her father was a mushroom farmer and her mother was a bookkeeper and tax collector. “My mother was interested in breeding and racing so we did have a small breeding operation at the farm,” she recalled. “She did layups and rehabilitation along with breeding and foaling horses then in the late '60's, she got a racehorse that competed at Pocono.”

When Randazzo thought about pursuing a career as a Thoroughbred horse trainer, her parents insisted she have a backup plan in case that didn't work. “They didn't think it was a great career choice for women at the time,” she said.

At 16, she learned how to shoe horses at a blacksmith school in Martinsville, Virginia, so she could help at the family farm. After high school, she studied animal husbandry for two years at the Delaware Valley College of Science & Agriculture before switching majors and schools. At Albright College in Reading, Randazzo earned degrees in Political Science and History. And keeping her parents' wishes in mind, she attended the University of Toledo College of Law afterwards and earned a law degree.

Six years ago at the age of 50, Randazzo decided to switch gears in her career — not to practice law, which she has never done — but to move into the regulatory aspect of racing.

“When I turned 50, I realized I wasn't 30 anymore,” she said. “The industry had changed a lot — some good and some not so good. I found it more difficult to get things done. Help wasn't the way it was 30 years ago either. So, I decided to make the move. I may be a little Pollyanna, but I believe one person can be a force for change and make a difference given the right circumstances,” she continued. “I feel like I can contribute more at the regulatory level at this stage of my career because I have seen so much. I know the difference between things that are illegal versus things that are morally wrong. Sometimes they are the same and sometimes they are not. I have passion for both the horses and people in the sport. We don't want anyone — horse or human — getting hurt. The interest of gamblers needs to be protected as well.”

In 2014, Randazzo enrolled at the University of Louisville's Racing Officials Accreditation Program and got her certification in Thoroughbreds. She became cross accredited by completing coursework in Standardbred racing three years later.

Since then, she has held positions as a sitting steward at Canterbury Park and Fairmount Park, as an alternate state steward and as a Florida-based vet technician at Tampa Bay Downs, and as a race office team member and placing judge at Colonial Downs, among others.

“Looking back at all these experiences I've had, the industry is changing, and I believe it's for the better,” she said. “There is a litany of issues that are being addressed now between the HBPA, Jockeys Guild and various associations. They are seeing the importance of backstretch workers and helping them with health and family care needs. The progression of horse welfare and finding ways to repurpose them after their racing days are over has taken great importance now,” she added. “People didn't retire or re-home horses before or seek alternative careers for them, but today owners, trainers, grooms, and anyone else associated with the horse is involved. There is more of an awareness that avenues like New Vocations (Racehorse Adoption Program), retirement programs and even individuals are available to accept those horses and often repurpose them.”

Randazzo has first-hand experience with a retired racehorse — she owns one that is based at a farm in upstate New York. “I have to walk the walk too,” she said. “That horse competed in my division from the age of two until he was claimed from me at the age of eight. When he was racing in the bottom level at Penn National afterwards, I contacted the owner and had planned to fill out paperwork to claim him back. But the owner instead graciously just gave him to me. He's a special child,” she added. “I thought I could repurpose him for myself to be a racetrack pony horse, but he is a little too high strung. Horses are like people. Not all are actually fit for another career. Now, I just ride him when I get up that way after the Colonial meet. I spend a month or two up there visiting friends and family.”

Recently, Randazzo was working the final days of June at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale for 2-year-olds in training. She clocks and grades the horses as they are breezing. She also helps with stable release paperwork. She doublechecks the bill of sale and bill of lading then releases each horse so the sales company knows the destination of where each horse is going and how he is getting there.

“I like to stay busy and always enjoy doing different things,” she said. “There's not a lot that I couldn't do.”

Her next stop is Colonial Downs and she is looking forward to the new challenge. “I've performed most of the Safety Compliance tasks before,” she said. “At Fairmount and Canterbury, I'd walk the backside every morning. I checked every single stall to make sure the horses were properly bedded, had water and had hay. I watched breezes regularly. If a horse or rider went down, I'd speak to the outrider. They control the track in the morning but wanted them to know I was another set of eyes. I was there to back them up. I helped make sure everyone had their helmets snapped up. The outriders get tired of telling people to wear helmets securely but it is for everyone's safety. I wanted to make sure horses and people were taken care of.”

When speaking of Colonial specifically, Randazzo hopes her summer is unexciting. “Reflecting on the constitution of the backside last year, I expect to be bored this summer,” she said half joking. “I walked the barn every morning last year. People came there to race. They wanted to win, they wanted to make money, then they wanted to leave. Colonial wants a set of boots on the ground — someone who knows what should happen on the backstretch. That's what I'll be there to do this year. I'll be walking around and observing to make sure horses are being taken care of. Hopefully, I'll be pretty good at it. I believe I'm doing this job for the right reason and that I have the right attitude going into it.”

“We are very fortunate to have 'Sam' for this important role,” said Jill Byrne, Colonial's Vice President of Racing Operations. “Her extensive background and knowledge from a horse person's perspective has earned her immense respect from horsemen. Combine that with her experience as a racing official and her passion for the industry, and she is the perfect representative to ensure the safety and welfare of horses, riders, and all stable help, as well as the integrity of racing.”

 

Colonial Downs' summer season begins July 27 and continues thru September 2. Racing will take place every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 5:30 PM (EDT). Virginia Derby Night is slated for Tuesday September 1. For more information and to see a copy of the Mid-Atlantic Strategic Plan, visit colonialdowns.com.

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Welfare Of Humans, Horses Top Priority At Del Mar Summer Meet

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (DMTC) will continue its enhanced safety measures for its horses and riders, while now also implementing a new set of protocols and procedures to ensure human safety, as its seaside Thoroughbred headquarters prepares to celebrate its 81st season of racing.

The horse/rider initiatives amplify the effective safety and welfare measures that Del Mar introduced over the last several seasons of racing and which have led to it being recognized as one the safest racetracks in the U.S. for both 2018 and 2019, according to The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database, which ranks Del Mar as among the safest major racetracks in the country with a rate of 0.79 fatal injuries per 1,000 starts in 2018 and 0.62 in 2019. The national average for track's reporting was 1.68.

Additionally, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the track also will take the unprecedented step of racing without fans in attendance in 2020 and with an extensive series of health and safety measures in place for all mandatory personnel.

“We're all about safety here,” said DMTC's CEO Joe Harper. “Safety and health will be our focus for the people involved with putting on this year's extraordinary race meet, but we'll also be continuing with our safety reforms for the well-being of our riders and horses.”

Working with health and medical experts in the county and state, Del Mar has put together a large-scale human safety program that will ensure those onsite at the 340-acre Del Mar Racetrack will have the most secure working environment possible during the 28-day session that runs from July 10 to September 7.

Among the daily measures that will be implemented throughout the 2020 summer race meeting at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club:

  • Admittance to the facility will be strictly limited to essential personnel
  • Daily on-site health screening for all personnel, which include temperature checks
  • All personnel will be required to wear face coverings
  • Some staff – such as jockeys and the starting gate crew – will be required to wear additional personal protective equipment
  • Proper social distancing will be required
  • Additional handwashing and sanitizer stations throughout the Grandstand and stable area
  • Enhanced janitorial services including daily disinfectant of all “common areas”
  • No congregation of people will be permitted in the saddling/paddock area
  • Saddling/paddock area and starting gate will be disinfected after each race
  • On-site medical personnel
  • Quarantine area procedures

Additionally, access to the Del Mar stable area will be limited to those licensed individuals who work directly with the horses. Stable area personnel will be subject to the same mask/wristbands/distance rules all frontside individuals will work under.

As for the track's extensive horse/rider safety program, it again will follow its well-considered and newly bolstered set of racing safety protocols that have been a model for best practices adopted by other tracks across the nation. Among racing steps that will be in place for the upcoming Thoroughbred stand are:

  • Entry Review Panel. The continuation of a panel of experts made up of regulatory veterinarians who will oversee the entries of all horses and provide an additional review of each of their medical, training and racing history. The panel will recommend to the track's Stewards that any horse it deems unfit for competition not be allowed to race.
  • Medication Reform. Del Mar will further its adoption of reforms modeled after the International Federation Horseracing Association (IFHA) requirements. Rules surrounding NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories) have been enhanced and extended and additional rules regarding other equine medications have been clarified and codified.
  • Increases in out-of-competition testing. Random testing will continue on for any horse at Del Mar, including ones readying for – or having just completed – morning workouts.
  • Enhanced stable security. As before, and working in conjunction with the investigative staff of the CHRB, an enhanced stable security team will monitor all aspects of the stable area to ensure that rules are properly followed.
  • Veterinary protocols for morning training. Just as they were last summer, veterinarians will be stationed at elevated observation points at the facility to oversee morning workouts and will have the ability – through communication with outriders – to remove horses from the racetrack and have them undergo a follow-up soundness examination.
  • Prohibit the use of the riding crop during morning workouts. Exercise riders and jockeys again will be prohibited from using a riding crop to encourage their horses during morning workouts. Del Mar continues to work with the CHRB and the Jockey's Guild on additional guidelines for riding crop use.
  • Stakeholder Advisory Committee. DMTC created a stakeholder advisory committee last summer represented by trainers, veterinarians, jockeys, racing surfaces maintenance personnel and management that met regularly to discuss safety practices, operations and track surfaces. That committee will be in session during 2020 also.
  • In addition, the conditions of all horses stabled at Del Mar (approximately 1,800) once more will be thoroughly analyzed by Del Mar's racing department regularly with specific conditions (e.g., gaps in racing or workout activity) flagged for additional scrutiny.

Over the past three years, Del Mar made a series of changes and adjustments aimed at horse and rider safety. Those measures will carry forward to this summer and include:

The highly professional work of our directors of racing surfaces maintenance. In 2017, DMTC hired Dennis Moore, widely considered the top track maintenance professional in the industry. Moore immediately changed Del Mar's banking and grading to conform with the other racing surfaces in Southern California, allowing an easy transition for horses competing in the Los Angeles-area. Moore's exceptional work – as well as the untiring efforts of our grass course specialist Leif Dickinson – will be at the heart of the track's safety efforts.
Fewer horses on the grounds. Over the past several seasons, DMTC has reduced the number of horses allowed on the grounds by more than 15% – from approximately 2,100 to 1,800. Fewer horses alleviated demand for access to the main track during busy morning training hours, creating a safer training environment.

Adjusted morning workouts. DMTC allowed only “workers” (those going at race speed, not joggers or gallopers) on the track for the first 10 minutes following the first two morning breaks. It has proven to be a successful safety procedure that has been adopted by other tracks in the industry.

Enhanced veterinary inspections. DMTC will continue to employ additional veterinarians to conduct pre-race inspections and monitor pre-race activities for starters, creating four distinct veterinary observation points for horses on race day.

Racing Surfaces expert Dr. Mick Peterson. DMTC continues to be aided by the services of Dr. Mick Peterson, director of University of Kentucky's Equine Ag Programs and Professor of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, widely recognized as the nation's foremost track surfaces analyst.

In addition, in 2019 DMTC joined the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition, an association of major U.S. racing organizations committed to meaningful reforms and accountability across U.S. racing jurisdictions. Del Mar remains fully accredited by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's Safety and Integrity Alliance for its upcoming season, having passed a complete review of equine and track safety protocols, injury reporting and prevention, medication testing, jockey health and safety best practices, wagering integrity and equine aftercare policies at its most recent testing.

Del Mar will race on a Friday-Saturday-Sunday schedule throughout the summer, finishing its meet with a traditional closing day card on Labor Day Monday. First post daily will be 2 p.m.

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