Tag: The Paddock

James Gagliano, President and Chief Operating Officer of The Jockey Club, penned the following commentary in response to a Letter to the Editor published in the Thoroughbred Daily News:

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” —Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Letters to the editor are, by definition, opinions. You can disagree with an opinion, but you can't exactly say it's wrong. But when “facts” that are not facts are offered in support of an opinion, that is disinformation. The writer of the July 26, 2023, Thoroughbred Daily News letter to the editor slamming HISA could be the poster child for that. Over the past week I reviewed his criticisms with executives with HISA and HIWU and found his letter replete with disinformation.

Here are some of the most serious mistruths from the article:

• Lack of Communication on Testing Results & Provisional Suspensions. According to the author, “There was zero notification from HISA/HIWU explaining what needed to be done.” Truth: According to Ben Mosier, executive director of HIWU, “Every trainer and owner who receives a positive test result receives a written notice from the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU), the independent enforcement agency tasked to enforce HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program, that states which prohibited substance was detected and contains detailed instructions about next steps, including HIWU contact information if the owner or trainer has questions.” I will note HISA maintains a 24/7 hotline for questions, something never before provided by state testing authorities.
• Professionalism of Testing Barn Staff. According to the author, “…the people performing the test were not wearing gloves and were not wearing sterile gowns, nor are the receiving barns/test barns cleaned and thoroughly sterilized before and after every animal is processed.” Fact, again from Mosier: “All test barn personnel operating in states under HISA's jurisdiction have been trained by HIWU procedures that include sanitizing hands prior to handling sample collection equipment and wearing gloves throughout the process of collecting urine samples.”
• Lab Credibility. The author attacks the credibility of the laboratories working with HIWU, questioning whether they know how a substance got into a horse. Fact: Labs detect prohibited (banned or controlled) substances that are present in equine blood, urine, or hair samples and no labs have ever been tasked with conducting investigations into how, when, or why the horse was exposed to that prohibited substance.
• Prohibited Substances. The author accuses HISA of inappropriately categorizing prohibited substances that are permitted by the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI), World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Fact: In the case of one of the author's horses, the substance reported as metformin is a prohibited substance by HISA and ARCI. WADA's and USADA's prohibited substances are not relevant because their prohibited lists cover proven performance-enhancing effects in humans, not horses.

Beyond that, the letter writer seems to have totally forgotten the big picture, so here's a reminder: HISA was necessary for the safety of our horses and riders. The survival of Thoroughbred racing in America depends on it, and as we all know, there is plenty of evidence to support that fact.

People in our sport, including at the highest level, were cheating right under the noses of state regulators for years and not getting caught – the names Servis and Navarro should ring some bells. And if you think that's a thing of the past, think again. As of July 30, 2023, HISA drug rules, enforced by HIWU, have resulted in 30 positive findings for, or possession of, banned substances. These aren't minor therapeutic overages; we're talking about drugs that have no business anywhere near a racehorse in competition or training. So, those horsemen who have been sticking their chests out and saying, “There's no doping going on in Thoroughbred racing,” are just plain wrong.

The HISA rollout hasn't been perfect, but HISA was given a huge job to do in a short period of time. And throughout that time, HISA has been bombarded by an orchestrated barrage of lawsuits generated by the same small group of dissidents and based on the same type of alternative facts espoused in the TDN letter. Now that HISA has won the latest round of lawsuits in federal court, the same group of naysayers has launched a massive disinformation campaign – they should be ashamed of themselves.

Despite the incoming fire of misinformation, half-truths, and lies, HISA has made enormous progress. Here are just a few examples:

• HISA is virtually a start-up company and has launched both its Racetrack Safety Program and its Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program in the span of a year, establishing a much-needed national set of integrity and safety rules.
• HISA developed uniform protocols based on data and science that were previously absent from this sport. Data generated by HISA's reporting mechanisms is being deployed in real time to help identify horses that could be at increased risk for injury, thereby making racing safer for horse and rider alike.
• Veterinary oversight and the number of learned hands touching horses before they set foot on the track has expanded to help ensure horses' wellbeing. More than 30,000 pre-race inspections have been performed by regulatory vets, and to date, more than 1,000 veterinarians have submitted more than 1 million treatment records of the care they provide to horses.
• HISA has put unprecedented emphasis on jockey wellness and safety, providing the industry with a national medical director and jockey safety and welfare manager to enhance and expand safety programs for our riders.
• To improve its own rollout and rule compliance, HISA established a national Horsemen's Advisory Group that is consulted on a regular basis for feedback on its rules and their implementation.
• HIWU was established in partnership with Drug Free Sport International and has formed a best-in-class team of testing, laboratory, investigatory, and legal experts to enforce HISA's anti-doping and medication control efforts. Since launching on May 22, HIWU has tested more than 15,000 horses, including post-race tests, out-of-competition tests, vets' list tests, and tests on claimed horses.

There is more work to be done, but HISA and its staff are working long hours to create and implement a lasting anti-doping program that is already transforming equine health and safety. I do agree with the letter's author that racing needs to improve, to demonstrate to the public that we as an industry put the care of our horses above all else. HISA is the independent organization that is leading the sport in these efforts, and it's time for everyone to be more productive and engaged to accomplish our shared goals.

The post Gagliano: HISA Naysayers Spreading Disinformation ‘Should Be Ashamed Of Themselves’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The New York Racing Association (NYRA) continues to disrespect its customers in its greedy pursuit of revenue. Both this past weekend and the weekend prior, decisions about surface changes were made last minute, depriving the bettor of an opportunity to make informed decisions on wagers.

On  Aug. 6.  in the fourth race (inner turf) the number seven horse, Ever Summer, broke down on the final turn. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. was taken via ambulance to first aid and returned to ride the fifth.  Ever Summer, sadly, was euthanized. Earlier in that same race, number one, Frivole (FR), was pulled up. Apparently jockey Manny Franco perceived some issue with the horse or the surface.

It is assumed that these unfortunate incidents led to the decision to move races seven, nine, and ten to the dirt. No spectator (to my knowledge) has any problem with management's decision in this case. The issue is the timing. The announcement was made over the public address system at Saratoga with zero minutes to post for race six. This was literally seconds before the gate opened for the sixth race – seconds before the pick 5 pool closed. Bettors had no opportunity to review scratches, distance, and surface changes. This was over one hour after the fourth race had ended – more than ample time to make this important decision in the interest of safety.

The sixth race ran, and the mutual payments were delayed. I was told by a NYRA employee that management was contemplating a decision. This puzzled me. What decision were they pondering? They had already made their decision about the surfaces. After a delay of ten minutes or so, the sixth race mutuels were posted, and the announcer declared that the pick 5 would pay “ALL” in races seven, nine, and ten.

According to the New York State Gaming Commission rules 4011.25.(f) if the scratches aren't in before the pool closes, the bettor should receive the post time favorite if their live ticket contains scratched horses. Rule 4011.25.(i) states that if the surface change is announced after the pool closes, the carded turf races (now dirt) should pay “ALL” numbers.

This is hardly the first time this has happened with NYRA. The events of this past Sunday at the Spa leave me with several questions, and I don't even know who to ask.

• Who ultimately makes the decision on the pool? How was NYRA able to circumvent the Gaming Commission Rules?
• How is NYRA held accountable? Who ultimately questions the performance of their management?
• Why do major racing media outlets avoid challenging NYRA when they mistreat their customers?

If NYRA is sincerely interested in serving its customers, there needs to be a mechanism for the fan voice to be heard.

— Fred Coppola, Horseplayer, New York

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Open letter from Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association president Lloyd Yother to horsemen and women and the industry:

There has been a lot of deliberating on the future of Arizona racing over the past several months — racing that many in the state depend on for their livelihoods. I have had a few days to evaluate Turf Paradise and Arizona Downs' announced decisions to not hold race meets in 2023 or 2024. However, I am here to make sure everyone in Arizona is well aware that horse racing in our state is not dead, and I plan to fight like hell to make sure of that!

Devastation from this decision will be felt by many. The horsemen and horsewomen throughout Arizona will especially be negatively impacted, but also all who earn their living through the equine industry here in our great state. Owners, trainers, grooms, hot-walkers, our breeding farms and staff, veterinarians, farriers, feed and tack stores, hay straw and alfalfa producers will experience a substantial negative economic impact.

However, there are two other significant and important segments that will suffer as well: our race fans and the betting public who love horse racing and whose support drives our equine industry.

I want to be clear: Hope is not lost and I know there is considerable interest in saving Arizona horse racing. As the President of the Arizona HBPA, as well as an owner and breeder of thoroughbreds and quarter horses, I can assure you that the AZHBPA board of directors and I will continue to work on behalf of all horsemen to keep racing alive and return it to the state as soon as possible.

While some discussions cannot be made public yet, I can tell you there are several entities interested in negotiating with Arizona horsemen to establish a race meet at an existing track or even possibly building a new facility. There are still many avenues to consider that will save Arizona horse racing. There are even options that include the possibility of running a late race meet in 2023 or possibly early in 2024. If these don't pan out, our board will continue to exhaust every means available to bring horse racing back to Arizona in the very near future.

Rest assured that I and your AZHBPA board will not rest until horse racing returns.

Respectfully yours,
J. Lloyd Yother
President AZHBPA & AQRA

The post Arizona HBPA President: ‘Horse Racing In Our State Is Not Dead’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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In the aftermath of tragedy, a writer's job is to make sense of it all for our readers. Bring new information, bring schooled perspective, bring some poetry that will console them in times of uncertainty.

But after the stretch run of Saturday's Test Stakes at Saratoga, what can you say?

I've had the misfortune to be in the press box at several racetracks when a horse has suffered a fatal injury. It never leaves me, but often the trauma is second-hand. I can see the way an ambulance is angled to block the public's view, and dread the reason why. I'll watch someone carrying an empty halter, sprinting on foot up the track. None of those days were as awful as this one.

I don't know how much people saw at home, where the race was being broadcast on FOX Sports, but I imagine it was enough. For thousands of people who were frontside at the track, the scene was so much worse. I've never heard a crowd move so quickly from cheering, to a collective gasp, to stunned silence. I looked away as soon as Maple Leaf Mel got up and I could see her front fetlock wasn't at the angle it should have been, but hundreds of people standing in the winner's circle couldn't turn away. They saw her leg. They saw her trainer in inconsolable tears. Despite the tarps, some saw her die.

I imagine breakdowns are upsetting to anyone, but when you've sat on a horse, or laid on the grass hand-grazing one, or spent your whole life reading their eyes and ears, I think it's harder. Something will look familiar about that horse, even if you don't know them, because it will remind you of the horse you love. It will be easier to imagine your horse standing in their place. I'll never know how grooms, exercise riders, trainers like Melanie Giddings, ever recover from seeing a horse they actually do know struggle in such foreign, terrible situations, mere minutes after going to the post slick and happy.

Many fractures are repairable with surgery, but it was clear from her movement as the gray filly stood up that this wasn't just a serious fracture, but there were also likely failures in the soft tissue supporting the delicate fetlock bones. In those situations, there's almost never anything they can do to fix it. The only question is how long the horse must suffer before euthanasia. It was unsettling to know she died right in front of us, but to van her back to the barn would have accomplished nothing but prolonging her pain, and that would have been an injustice to her.

I can see now why people cling so fiercely to the bad step myth. It really did look like Mel just missed straightening her pastern fully before her foot came back down to the dirt – the same way my dressage horse does now and then as we trot around the schooling arena or as he bumbles around in his paddock – and that she just had too much momentum behind her to straighten up again. We know, from academic research, that this is almost never the reason breakdowns happen, but I don't also know anyone who would suggest that Mel's trainer is someone who would push a horse, or ignore any sign of trouble, or take liberties with substances. Not with any horse, and especially not with this one.

So what do you say? There are people who were at the races Saturday who may never go back. There are people who may take weeks or days of flinching through stretch runs before they decide they've had enough. I'm not sure I can blame them.

You could say that horses suffer injuries like this in other sports and they do, although those incidents are not nearly so well-documented or broadly-observed. You could point out that they also find ways to have accidents in comfortable, safe stalls, or running free in a paddock or on a plain out West. I don't think that response really works anymore, because the people at Saratoga on Saturday only saw this horse, doing this job, suffer a traumatic accident, so other possibilities probably feel pretty remote. And that doesn't really absolve the sport from its responsibility to try to stop these things from happening.

You could say that she died doing the thing she loved most in the world, and that's true. But I don't think horses think about life and death the way we do. She hadn't contemplated the ways in which she would and wouldn't be OK leaving this world. Like most animals, horses live in the moment. Most of those moments were good ones, but the procession of them ended too soon.

You could say it's just part of the game. The race card went on after Mel died. The paddock bell tolled just minutes after the ambulance carried her body off the track, sounding like a funeral knell, but really it was telling us the horses for the next race were in the paddock. Horses went to the track this morning like always, although the people seemed a little quieter than usual. But the question that will always follow that is, should it be part of the game? And if you can't have one without the other, should you have both?

I've spoken with so many people in the last year who have been in the racing business their whole lives and who, from one vantage point or another, fight to do the right things by horses. They're tired. They're jaded. They're getting tired of answering questions from their barista or taxi driver about horse deaths. They're telling me they're not sure how much longer they can keep defending the sport, and starting to wrestle with their own moral responsibility in continuing on.

More and more, I don't know what to say to them.

The post Voss: In Wake Of Maple Leaf Mel Tragedy, There Are No Easy Answers appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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