Tag: The Paddock

Letter To The Editor: A Tale Of Two Governors, With DeSantis Prioritizing Florida Horse Racing And Arizona’s Ducey Thumbing His Nose At It

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made clear there won't be a tribal gaming deal in his state unless the needs of the state's horse racing industry have been properly addressed.

Efforts to expand gaming in Nebraska saw legislators urge pro-gaming advocates to first talk to the state's horsemen about responsible ways to expand.

And then there's Arizona.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey not only isn't giving the time of day to our state's horsemen, he's rebuffing requests to just pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. And he's doing it while pushing for a gaming expansion bill that would deliver just a fraction of what other states receive in gaming revenues – all while allowing the horse racing industry to remain dying on life support.

Gov. Ducey wants to allow sports teams to modernize their revenue stream by legalizing sports betting across the state and add sports books at taxpayer-funded sports stadiums.

And he wants Arizona tribes to be able to modernize the gaming options offered at their casinos – which they want more of, of course.

Meanwhile, Arizona is the only state in the country that still requires advance deposit wagering bets to be placed on a landline phone. But Gov. Ducey doesn't want us to be able to modernize.

The state's horsemen simply want to modernize wagering, adding historical horse racing machines at tracks and OTBs, to provide the revenue needed to survive. There are no requests for a government hand-out or to have facilities subsidized by taxpayers. We want to help ourselves with a sustainable business model at existing locations, under existing pari-mutuel laws – which have existed in Arizona for decades.

Those pari-mutuel laws just need modernizing.

Arizona state Sen. David Gowan has sponsored a bill to do just that and seems to have the support of his legislative colleagues.

But not Gov. Ducey.

We've seen what modernizing wagering and adding HHR can do for a state – Virginia is thriving, bringing that state more than $100 million in new revenues, while it has doubled the purses in Kentucky.

Meanwhile, in Arizona, legislators worry that Gov. Ducey is asking sports books for just a fraction of the $10 million a license costs in other states. They also worry that the 5% fees charged to tribal gaming aren't close to the 20% paid by tribes to other states.

Sen. Gowan's Senate Bill 1794 would bring the state more than $100 million in new tax revenues, lead to more than $300 million in capital investments, including a new track at Arizona Downs, and see daily purses increase from $80,000 to $300,000.

And it couldn't come at a more dire time. In Arizona, handle is down $55 million a year, purses are down $5 million a year, live race attendance is down 45%, Turf Paradise is for sale and Arizona Downs has struggled to keep the lights on.

And yet as Gov. Ducey takes steps to modernize gaming in Arizona, he won't even allow the state's horse racing industry to have a seat at the table, as he ushers in plans to allow the state's billionaire sports team owners to not just modernize their operations, but to thrive.

It all called to mind something DeSantis said last week.

“If it's something that benefits the state, we obviously have an obligation to work to do that,” he said when asked about tribal compact negotiations there and the importance of ensuring the state's horse racing industry is able to survive.

Why is that?

“Ultimately, I don't represent the Seminoles,” he said. “I represent Florida businesses and employees. We want to make sure those folks do well under whatever arrangement may be reached between the State of Florida and the Nation of the Seminole Indian Tribe.”

Arizona residents and small business owners should only be so lucky.

– Bob Hutton, President of the Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association, and Leroy Gessman, Executive Director of the AHBPA

If you would like to submit a letter to the editor, please write to info at paulickreport.com and include contact information where you may be reached if editorial staff have any questions.

The post Letter To The Editor: A Tale Of Two Governors, With DeSantis Prioritizing Florida Horse Racing And Arizona’s Ducey Thumbing His Nose At It appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Friday Show Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Ponying Up

Trainers Mike Maker and Wesley Ward aren't the only horsemen who have encountered Thoroughbred owners who have been slow to pay their bills. In their cases, the two trainers filed suit against owners Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey alleging nearly $1 million was owned to each of them for past due training bills and purse earnings. Ken Ramsey has said he'll make good on both cases and that the lawsuits will be dropped.

In the case of Ahmed Zayat and his family's Zayat Stables – now going through bankruptcy – a host of trainers and other businesses are owed a significant amount of money.

It  begs the question of how many other trainers have had to “carry” owners for extended periods of time, negotiate fees after the fact or put liens on bloodstock in order to get paid.

Watch this week's Friday Show for a discussion on this subject with Ray Paulick and Paulick Report editor in chief Natalie Voss. Bloodstock editor Joe Nevills joins the show for a retrospective on the late Sheikh Hamdan of Shadwell Stables, a Toast to Vino Rosso and some news about a new product coming next week that covers the auction front.

The post The Friday Show Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Ponying Up appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Horseracing Integrity And Safety Act A ‘Poll-arizing’ Issue

People apparently have strong feelings about the poll published over the last week in the Paulick Report asking readers whether they support or oppose the lawsuit filed by the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and state affiliates to stop the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act from being enacted.

We've done polls before on this legislation, asking whether readers were in favor of the Act while it was working its way through Congress and then, following its passage in December 2020, whether the creation of a national office (the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority) for medication and safety regulations will have a positive or negative impact on racing.

All those polls expressed strong support for the legislation.

That's why it was a bit surprising to see what appeared to be overwhelming support (about 60%) from our readers for the HBPA's lawsuit asking a federal court to declare the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act unconstitutional.

A reader pointed out they were able to vote more than one time and suggested that maybe someone supporting the HBPA was “stuffing the ballot box.”

Turns out this person was right.

The software we use to poll readers does collect the IP address for all voters but does not identify them in any other way. It also gives us the option to block any one IP address from voting more than one time. Unfortunately, that box was not checked when this poll was published.

I was able to download and export a file of all votes onto an Excel spreadsheet and sort by IP address. Lo and behold, there were multiple cases of what I would call “extreme voting.” In one case, an IP address was responsible for voting more than 1,000 times. Another voted 500 times. The timestamp on the votes showed some people spent a lot of their daylight hours trying to influence the outcome of this poll.

I went through the document and then back to the voting software and eliminated any multiple votes from the same IP address. In the vast majority of cases, those casting multiple votes were on the side of the HBPA. When all multiple votes were eliminated (no matter which side of the issue they supported), opposition to the HBPA lawsuit came in at 66%, with only 34% supporting the HBPA challenge. This is from a total of 2,230 votes (nearly 1,800 votes from the original 4,000-plus were discovered to be duplicates).

This poll is no longer accepting votes

Do you support or oppose the lawsuit filed by the National HBPA and some of its affiliates to stop the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act from going into effect?
Vote

The funny thing about this attempt to tilt a non-scientific public opinion poll is that it will have absolutely zero bearing on the legal challenge launched by the HBPA. We asked our readers how they felt because many of them are HBPA members or affiliated with other horsemen's organizations (Thoroughbred Horsemen's Associations or Thoroughbred Owners of California).

So why do it? Why sit at a keyboard for hours and vote hundreds of time on a meaningless poll on some horse racing website that has no influence on a federal court in west Texas, where the HBPA lawsuit was filed?

Maybe some people just can't help but cheat.

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Montplaisir: How Educating People Can Better Our Horses’ Lives

In my new role as Equine Education Coordinator for the Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP), I've been tasked with building awareness for the equine industry's educational and employment opportunities. This includes creating relationships with youth organizations, leading outreach through events, and serving as an ambassador for the initiatives we have in place.

The industry struggles with recruitment and retention of workforce, and I repeatedly hear sentiments that today's youth can no longer relate to this 'way of life'. Countering that notion, I believe in maintaining a positive growth mindset, and in the transformative power of education. I also believe we already have a template for recruiting and developing people in the way we develop racehorses.

We begin working with horses at a young age, through lots of human contact and handling with foals, ground work with weanlings, and starting yearlings under saddle.

When working with a young horse, it is rewarding to see and feel the learning cogs starting to turn – the softening into your hands, ears intent on a human teacher rather than calling out for equine friends, head lowering and stretching out from poll to tail. Early training facilitates progression, establishes trust, and builds confidence.

We do not expect horses to succeed without a proper foundation, so why would we expect that of humans?

To find future racehorses, we go to sales and select prospects. When it comes to finding people for the workforce, the process should not be much different. Many of the under-30s I know who are working in the equine industry stumbled upon it by chance. Their stories range from turning on the television and catching a big race, going on a class tour to a farm, or introduction through a family friend or relative who was a casual fan. This process could be improved through intentional, strategic recruitment. Connecting with schools, integrating equine into existing curriculums, and demonstrating how horses can improve educational attainment are all ways to get kids thinking about careers with horses.

Even when we have our prospective racehorses, they are not loaded onto the horse van and shipped directly to the racetrack. They spend ample time at training centers, learning with other youngsters about how to gallop in company and on their own.

The Thoroughbred industry values experience in its employees, and I can't count the number of times I've heard the phrase, “Young people need to pay their dues.” However, I have never had someone define to me exactly what this means. We cannot expect people to just figure out how to find a mentor, which technical training or university programs they should apply for, and where to locate internships. We must formulate a training plan, and outline the pathways required for gaining experience and upward mobility in jobs. This sets people up for positive experiences and success.

Finally, when we have our horses fit and ready for the track, we don't expect them to win races without daily training. In addition to that training, they also receive time off and rehab to keep them mentally and physically healthy. No matter someone's age, knowledge level or job title, continuing education should never be overlooked. There is no ceiling blocking anyone from being a more diligent employee, involved team member, compassionate manager, and devoted steward of the horse.

It comes down to this: the better we educate the industry's workforce, the better the horses will be cared for. Hands guided by knowledge and experience are developed through a strong foundation – and maintained through continued training.

Annise Montplaisir is the equine education coordinator for the Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP) and is a graduate of the Godolphin Flying Start program.

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