Tag: The Biz

The Jockey Club announced Monday that it will now offer The Jockey Club Fact Book Chronicle as part of the free online Fact Book on its website.

In 2021, The Jockey Club offered a free PDF of The American Racing Manual. The Fact Book Racing Chronicle will contain much of the information that was found in The American Racing Manual. However, the source and format of some of the data will differ from last year's manual. For example, past performances will now come directly from Equibase, and charts from graded stakes races will be provided through links to equibase.com.

“The information in The Jockey Club Fact Book Chronicle is valuable for everyone from researchers and reporters to handicappers and casual racing fans, and we are pleased to be able to provide this resource as part of our Fact Book,” said James L. Gagliano, president and chief operating officer of The Jockey Club. “In the coming years, we plan to add additional content and make the information more dynamic, and we welcome feedback on potential additions to the Chronicle.”

Feedback on the Fact Book Chronicle can be submitted to contactus@jockeyclub.com.

The Jockey Club, founded in 1894 and dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing, is the breed registry for North American Thoroughbreds. In fulfillment of its mission, The Jockey Club, directly or through subsidiaries, provides support and leadership on a wide range of important industry initiatives, and it serves the information and technology needs of owners, breeders, media, fans and farms. It founded America's Best Racing (americasbestracing.net), the broad-based fan development initiative for Thoroughbred racing, and in partnership with the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, operates OwnerView (ownerview.com), the ownership resource. Additional information is available at jockeyclub.com.

The post The Jockey Club Publishes Inaugural ‘Fact Book Racing Chronicle’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Tampa Bay Downs posted significant gains in most major categories during the 2021-2022 season when compared to the 2018-2019 (pre-pandemic) meet – including average daily all-sources wagering handle and total purse money paid to horsemen.

Although the increases weren't as eye-popping when lined up against 2020-2021, Peter Berube, the track's Vice President & General Manager, finds much to be encouraged by as the Oldsmar oval strengthens its position as one of the nation's most popular winter Thoroughbred simulcast signals.

“Our Thoroughbred racing product has been very well-received, both by Tampa Bay area fans and the simulcast market throughout the country,” said Berube, who attributed the increases in large part to the ongoing upgrade in the quality of racing and the attractiveness of the turf program.

“The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby card (on March 12) generated almost $21 million in wagering, which represented a 36 percent increase from the previous record of $15.2-million set last year and was the most of any racetrack in the country that day.”

In evaluating the success of the meet, Berube compared the final figures to both the 2020-2021 season and the 2018-2019 numbers.

This season's total live all-sources handle for 89 days of racing was $401,467,564, a 1.72-percent increase from last season and 18.62 percent above the 2018-2019 mark. Total live on-track handle of $16,324,991 was a whopping 23.41 percent above last season and 2.98 percent over 2018-2019.

Wagering handle per starter was $64,317, up 10.19 percent from last season and 28.08 percent from 2018-2019. The average handle per race was $488,998.

Berube said behind-the-scenes efforts by numerous key players was pivotal to the track's rising popularity.

“The Racing Office, led by (Racing Secretary) Allison De Luca, does a fantastic job of putting together highly competitive cards and making owners and trainers aware of all Tampa Bay Downs has to offer,” Berube said. “Our track maintenance crew, headed by Tom McLaughlin, takes a backseat to no one in maintaining both surfaces to a level of excellence. (Director of Group Sales) Nicole McGill and her staff continue to come up with creative ways to attract new fans, which is essential for our continued growth.”

A crowd of 7,756 attended Saturday's season-ending Kentucky Derby Day card, which featured nine “live” Tampa Bay Downs races generating more than $4.7-million in total wagering. Most of the fans remained afterward to watch the Derby, won by 80-1 shot Rich Strike, on the jumbo video board in the infield.

“It's gratifying for all of us to see the tremendous enthusiasm for horse racing on major race days like the Kentucky Derby and the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby,” Berube said.

Thoroughbred racing will return to Tampa Bay Downs on June 30 and July 1 for the 10th annual Summer Festival of Racing.

Tampa Bay Downs paid out $18,204,465 in purse money in 2021-2022, up 8.02 percent from 2020-2021 and 17.03-percent from 2018-2019. The average daily purse distribution of $204,545 is a track record.

“Racing is an expensive undertaking, and the costs associated with participating have risen over the last several years,” Berube said. “For us to continue to grow our product, we need to keep focusing on ways to increase wagering, which drives the increase in purse money.”

Mirroring trends at the majority of North American racetracks, the average field size per race dropped from 8.27 horses a race last season to 7.86. Berube said the decline in average field size is primarily attributable to a steady drop in the size of the North American foal crop, from 28,420 in 2010 to an estimated 19,200 in 2021.

With horses getting harder to come by, more Tampa Bay Downs horsemen than ever chose to restock their stables through claiming races, which allow them to purchase horses for a pre-set price. An all-time Oldsmar oval record of 351 horses were claimed (131 more than last season) at a total cost of $3,970,000.

About 30 percent of the horses claimed were sought by multiple horsemen, resulting in “shakes” (drawing the winning claims slip out of a box) to determine the new owner.

On the racetrack, 3-year-old colt Classic Causeway won both the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes and the G2 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby to earn a spot in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, in which he finished 11th. Undefeated (6-for-6) turf specialist Bleecker Street, a 4-year-old filly, won both the G3 Endeavour Stakes and the G2 Hillsborough Stakes, returning to competition last Friday at Churchill Downs to capture the G3 Modesty Stakes presented by TwinSpires.

Apprentice jockey Madeline Rowland, an 18-year-old from Landenberg, Pa., became a virtual overnight sensation, winning 34 races while completing her high school education online. She finished in ninth place in the track standings. Known to family, friends – and now, an adoring following – as Maddie, she was named the Salt Rock Tavern Jockey of the Month in April and concluded her season by riding four winners on Kentucky Derby Day.

Samy Camacho was the track's leading jockey with 85 winners, good for his second consecutive title and third in the last four years. Gerald Bennett captured his seventh consecutive training title and eighth overall with 36 victories.

The top owner entering the Summer Festival of Racing (the June 30 card, for record-keeping purposes, is officially the final day of the 2021-2022 meet) is Endsley Oaks Farm with 24 victories. Endsley Oaks, in Brooksville, Fla., is owned by Bob and Jill Jones.

Three horses are tied with the most victories at the meet, with four apiece: 3-year-old filly Katies a Lady, owned by Terry E. Davie and trained by Kathleen O'Connell; 10-year-old gelding Native Hawk, owned and trained by Juan Arriagada; and 6-year-old gelding Tony Small, owned by Mark Hoffman and trained by Maria Bowersock.

The post Tampa Bay Downs: Strong Numbers For 2021-2022 Season Generate Optimism appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Board and US Members of the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) met on Thursday to discuss the implementation of the HISA Act. Most suggest that “technical corrections” to the federal statute could better facilitate the intent of Congress that the Authority work in partnership with States to implement a uniform and effective equine welfare, anti-doping and medication control program for Thoroughbred racing.

Due to resource and statutory limitations in many States and the fact that HISA's Board and committees operate behind closed doors and have not adopted accountability policies normally associated with the use of state funds and resources, the desired HISA-State partnerships are harder to achieve, if not impossible in some places.

Twenty-two states have told the Authority that it will be impossible for them to remit or collect monies to pay the HISA assessments and more states than not are finding it difficult – if not impossible – to agree to do HISA's racetrack safety work for them in time for the July 1, 2022 effective day.

As such, many state racing commissions are concerned that the Authority is not ready to take over this responsibility by the fast approaching deadline. Many believe horses could be at risk unless the effective date of the HISA Act were pushed back by Congress. The challenge of recruiting large animal veterinarians to perform regulatory functions has long been a challenge for Commissions in some states, and shifting responsibility to racetracks or HISA is not going to alleviate that.

“The good news is that much of this program is already in place in many states and the Commissions will probably continue everything they have been doing, at least for a while. In those States where HISA believes more should be done, they can still do that but that may have to be totally up to them,” ARCI President Ed Martin said.

Martin said one Commission Executive Director from a major racing state summed up the HISA dilemma in these terms: “Do you mean to tell me HISA wants us to pay them and then we agree to do all the work for them? On what planet does that make any sense?”

In some states, senior officials above the Racing Commission are asking what the incentive is for a state to continue doing certain things when Congress has put the entire responsibility in the hands of the HISA Authority.

Some states, like California, Maryland, and Kentucky, believe they can make the Act work without technical changes or a delayed implementation. Others are trying but are unsure. The majority of states believe Congress should make technical corrections that would make it easier for HISA to partner with the states and avoid the loss of existing state appropriations.

“It's important that we all get this right,” Martin said. “Nobody's going to blame anybody if they admit they need more time, like they did on the anti-doping and medication control program.”

“It would not hurt this industry if Congress pulled representatives of the tracks, horsemen, States, and FTC into a room to roll up their sleeves on what changes might make this all easier on HISA and the industry,” Martin said.

The post ARCI: Congress Can And Should Make HISA Work Better appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) approved Tuesday significant amendments to regulations which will improve measures of transparency around rules violations.

“Our frustration has clearly come from certain cases which take long periods of time, nobody knows what's going on, we're not allowed to say what's going on, and so we want to be able to communicate that out,” the KHRC's rules committee chair Mark Simendinger said when the amendments were proposed earlier this month.

(Read more about the KHRC's Rules Committee meeting, at which the amendments were initially proposed, here.)

The changes will likely take effect late in 2022 after a public comment period and other administrative steps.

Under previous regulations, the KHRC required all stewards' and judges' hearings to be closed and no public announcement could be made by the KHRC regarding the topics of such hearings until the hearings concluded and a ruling was issued.

Such a requirement enabled situations like that in 2021 where trainer Bob Baffert was free to discuss details of Medina Spirit's positive test in the Kentucky Derby – he and owner Amr Zedan being the only two formally notified by the KHRC of the positive sample – while the Commission remained silent for approximately nine months.

Once a hearing was held and a ruling issued, only then could the KHRC could engage publicly.

Such requirements are incredibly insufficient from any regulator in the modern day and the KHRC has duly recognized that.

Under the revised regulations, the KHRC or its executive director can reveal a variety of details about cases, including in instances where information about a violation is first disclosed by the participant – a reference that seems specific to the experience of the Medina Spirit case.

In the Medina Spirit case, before a split sample laboratory was even selected and the sample sent for testing, Baffert conducted a plethora of media interviews about the case, all while the KHRC could say nothing.

In future circumstances, such an act by the licensee would trigger the KHRC's ability to speak publicly as well, even before the split sample results were known.

The KHRC also added a catch-all that allows them to disclose information publicly “for other reasons in the best interests of racing.”

Further, and perhaps most interestingly, hearings conducted by stewards and judges relating to rules violations will be open to the public unless laws requiring the protection of certain details of a case are under consideration.

Stewards holding a hearing for a jockey charged with careless riding? That hearing will be open – to the public, media, and potentially even live-streamed.

“The actions of the commissioners of the KHRC and its staff are to be applauded by all stakeholders across racing,” said Patrick Cummings, Executive Director of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation.

“After what was a testing year, the insufficiency of existing protocols became clear and the KHRC acted decisively to adopt a new way forward to embrace transparency and bolster public confidence.

“TIF encourages other states, as well as the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, to follow Kentucky's lead in serving the greater public interest through open, transparent proceedings.”

The specific details of the amendments as passed by the KHRC are below. The underlined portion is new to the KHRC regulations.

Section 1. Public Disclosures

(1) The commission or its executive director may publicly disclose information regarding an alleged violation if such information will not unduly impact any investigation.

(a) After notice to the racing participant, the commission or its executive director may publicly disclose the identity of any racing participant who is accused of an alleged regulatory violation and the identity of the horse at issue;

(b) After commission and racing participant receive testing results pursuant to 810 KAR 10 8:010 and 810 KAR 8:060, the commission or its executive director may publicly disclose the alleged conduct or the alleged amount and type of the medication, drug, or substance that gave rise to the alleged regulatory violation; or

(c) At any time, the commission or its executive director may publicly disclose the date of an upcoming stewards' hearing; or

(d) At any time, the commission or its executive director may publicly disclose other information as deemed appropriate.

(2) Situations giving rise to the disclosure of information by the commission or its executive director may include the following:

(a) Information pertaining to an alleged regulatory violation has been previously publicly disclosed by the racing participant;

(b) In the case of an alleged medication violation, if the commission's laboratory has returned a positive finding and the racing participant has been notified of the results of split sample pursuant to 810 KAR 8:010;

(c) In the case of a medication violation, if the commission's laboratory has returned a positive finding and the racing participant has not exercised his or her right to further laboratory testing; or

(d) For other reasons in the best interests of racing.

Section 2. Stewards' and Judges' Hearings.

(1) A stewards' or judge's hearing, as applicable, shall be conducted by a state steward or a state judge unless waived in writing by the party charged with the violation. A stewards' or judges' hearing shall be conducted no more than sixty (60) days after either:

(a) the racing participant is notified of an alleged violation, or

(b) if the racing participant requests split laboratory results, the date on which the participant receives those results.

(2) The stewards or judges may extend the 60-day deadline in their sole discretion, upon demonstration of exigent circumstances.

(3) At least two (2) stewards or judges must be present at all times during the hearing.

All three (3) stewards or judges shall review the evidence and testimony prior to issuing a ruling.

A ruling shall be made by all three (3) stewards or judges sitting in the matter.

(4) A party charged with a violation other than a routine riding offense occurring in a race shall be given written notice of the stewards' or judges' hearing, unless waived in writing by the party charged.

(5) Public attendance at stewards' and judges' hearings is allowed. Nothing in this section limits the authority of the presiding stewards or judges to order closure of a hearing or to make other protective orders to the extent necessary or proper to satisfy the United States Constitution, the Kentucky Constitution, federal or state statute, or other law, such as laws protecting privileged, confidential, or other protected information.

The post Kentucky Horse Racing Commission Approves New Measures For Transparency appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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