Posted: 7/26/2010

National HBPA Announces Support for the Continued Development of a Racing Industry Interstate Racing and Wagering Compact

Minneapolis, MN, Sunday, July 25, 2010 – During the National HBPA Board of Directors meeting held on Sunday, July 25, 2010 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the largest racing horsemen’s representative association in North America voted to offer its conditional support towards the horse racing industry effort to develop an interstate racing and wagering compact. The Board meeting was part of the National HBPA’s 2010 summer convention, which was held at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in downtown Minneapolis and hosted by the Minnesota HBPA.

The National HBPA will continue to participate in the development of such a compact as long as it is founded on the following five tenets:

1. The implementation of rules based on industry consensus,
2. A structured process which provides horsemen with an opportunity to be heard on both the local and national level,
3. Reasonable uniformity of rules based on industry consensus,
4. Concrete protections against unilateral rule-making, and
5. Commissioners selected on the basis of merit and experience.

According to National HBPA President and Chairman Joe Santanna, “As an organization, the National HBPA believes that an interstate racing and wagering compact could be important and beneficial to our industry as we continue efforts to better standardize rules across jurisdictions – as long as the process gives all affected parties fair representation and input. The National HBPA will support and participate in the development of such an interstate compact as long as we have a comfort level that all participants in our industry – including horsemen – will be allowed fair and reasonable input into all decisions.”

The National HBPA, based in Lexington, Kentucky, is the largest racing horsemen’s representative association in North America, with 30 affiliate organizations and over 30,000 member horsemen. Big Dee’s Tack & Vet Supplies, Equineline.com, and Horseman’s Labor Solutions are proud corporate partners of the National HBPA, and TVG is the official television partner of the National HBPA.

Posted: 7/26/2010

National HBPA Closely Examines, Takes Positions on Industry Issues at Recently Concluded Summer Convention in Minneapolis

Minneapolis, MN, Monday, July 26, 2010 – The National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) recently concluded its 2010 summer convention, which was held at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota from July 21-25, 2010 and hosted by the Minnesota HBPA. The organization took in-depth looks at a number of industry issues at the convention through both committee meetings and speaker forums featuring an impressive list of experts. As a result, the National HBPA Board of Directors has adopted some specific positions.

The National HBPA Medication Committee presented a speaker forum entitled, "Bute - 5 mcg ... To Be or Not To Be," which was moderated by NHBPA Medication Committee Chairman and Florida HBPA Executive Director Kent Stirling. With a panel consisting of a virtual who’s who of racing medication testing and regulation experts, the forum presented all sides of the current debate over a proposed change to the longstanding RCI Model Rule regarding phenylbutazone (Bute). The proposal would decrease the allowable level from 5 mcg/ml to 2 mcg/ml for Bute administered 24 hours prior to racing.

As a result of considerable previous work and research, as well as the information heard at the Medication Committee forum, the National HBPA Board of Directors took an official position actively objecting to any change to the RCI Model Rule regarding phenylbutazone at this time because it is clear that the scientific community is not unanimous in its opinion that the preponderance of scientific evidence demonstrates that there is an effect on the athletic performance of the horse at the 5 mcg/ml regulatory threshold, nor does the scientific evidence demonstrate that the 5 mcg/ml level impairs the ability to conduct accurate pre-race examinations. It is understood that while the vast majority of horses test below the 2 mcg/ml level, the 5 mcg/ml level simply provides a safety margin to avoid inappropriate positives.

National HBPA President and CEO Joe Santanna commented, “We represent the majority of racing horsemen in North America. And while a rule change like this might seem somewhat benign, it could lead to unfair burdens on horsemen and unnecessary negative media scrutiny of our industry and its participants. So the burden here – as it should be on any important rule change – was the science. Does a preponderance of scientific evidence in this case show a clear line between a lowered regulatory threshold and a decrease in the rate of musculoskeletal/catastrophic racing injuries to horses? At this time, in our opinion, it does not.”

Turfway Park President and CEO and NTRA Board of Directors Chair Bob Elliston moderated a speaker forum examining a proposed Interstate Racing and Wagering Compact (IRWC) that has been under development over the course of the last year. The panel titled “The Interstate Racing and Wagering Compact and Horsemen: To Be Feared or Embraced?” featured a strong selection of speakers with widely varying perspectives on the subject.

After a lively debate over the positives and potential negatives to horsemen such an interstate racing and wagering compact could create, the National HBPA Board of Directors has chosen to give its conditional support to the development of such a compact as long as it is founded on the following five tenets:

1. The implementation of rules based on industry consensus,
2. A structured process which provides horsemen with an opportunity to be heard on both the local and national level,
3. Reasonable uniformity of rules based on industry consensus,
4. Concrete protections against unilateral rule-making,
5. Commissioners selected on the basis of merit and experience.

Highly informative speaker panels were also presented on "Technology and Horsemen: The New Frontier" and "The Future of Horse Racing & the Horse Race Wagering Product." More details about all the speaker panels can be found on the National HBPA blog at http://nationalhbpa.blogspot.com/.

A decision was made by the NHBPA Board Directors to launch an electronic version of its award-winning The Horsemen’s Journal magazine, as well as continuing to mail the printed version to its members. Also at the Convention, Kentucky HBPA President Rick Hiles and Virginia HBPA Executive Director Frank Petramalo, Jr. were named co-recipients of the National HBPA’s Industry Service Award. Pierre “Peb” Bellocq was recognized for his outstanding artistic contributions in furtherance of the charitable and humanitarian efforts of the National HBPA, and Keith Swaggerty’s mare No Flies on Doodle was named the National HBPA Claimer of the Year.

The convention was held in conjunction with the 12th running of the Claiming Crown, a lucrative day of racing developed to spotlight hardworking claiming owners and trainers and their horses that was created and is put on annually by the National HBPA and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA). This year’s $500,000 Claiming Crown was held at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minnesota on Saturday, July 24.

The National HBPA, based in Lexington, Kentucky, is the largest racing horsemen’s representative association in North America, with 30 affiliate organizations and over 30,000 member horsemen. Big Dee’s Tack & Vet Supplies, Equineline.com, and Horseman Labor Solutions are proud corporate partners of the National HBPA, and TVG is the official television partner of the National HBPA.

Posted 7/23/2010, 4:42 pm

The Indiana Racing Commission has announced a purse increase for Indiana-bred horses racing in open company in Indiana. The commission also has created four new stakes for Indiana-breds and boosted the purses of Indiana-bred races.

The initiative was recommended by Joe Gorajec, the commission's executive director, and was supported by Indiana Downs, Hoosier Park, and the Indiana Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. Indiana-breds who finish first, second, or third in open company at a level of $10,000 claiming or higher will receive a 40 percent purse supplement.

The four new Indiana-bred stakes created by the commission will each have a purse of $200,000. The stakes will begin in 2012.

The program also requires that Indiana-bred races have purses equal to that of a track's open races. Maiden races for Indiana-breds will now be $35,000, up more than 45 percent from the $24,000 offered at the recent Indiana Downs meet. Other race categories will receive similar boosts.

The money for the purse increases for Indiana-breds will come from the open purse accounts.

"Both tracks agreed to fuel the supplemented purses from the open purse accounts," Gorajec said. "The four $200,000 races will be funded by at least half from the tracks and the balance from the Breed Improvement fund."

The new program will begin immediately and will be in effect when Hoosier Park begins its meet July 30. Indiana purses are subsidized by the 2,000 slot machines in operation at each track.

Posted 7/22/2010, 4:02 pm

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - The Claiming Crown has long been a melting pot, bringing together horses from East and West coasts and numerous points in between on a terrific day of racing.

For numerous reasons, that formula didn't exactly work for the 12th running Saturday at Canterbury Park, and a noticeable lack of representation from both coasts has Claiming Crown officials concerned for the long-term viability of the series. Surely, the biggest problem is that Claiming Crown purses, which essentially have remained the same since the 1999 inaugural, no longer are big enough to entice widespread participation.

"Obviously with the growing competition on the East Coast, particularly Monmouth Park, and the big purses at some of the tracks with casinos, it's made our job much more difficult in recruiting horses for the Claiming Crown," said Dan Metzger, president of one of the sponsoring organizations, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. "Maybe it's a sign of the times, too, with the tough economy and all the costs involved with shipping halfway across the country. We all know it's been a couple of bumpy years for the entire industry, and the Claiming Crown is an example of that struggle."

Scott Lake, who leads all trainers in Claiming Crown history in starts and wins, said he could have sent two horses to Canterbury from his Eastern base this year, but circumstances couldn't justify it. Instead, he will miss the event for just the second time.

"I'm sick that I'm not there," Lake said. "The Claiming Crown is always a great time. I really thought about sending Wink at the Girls and Threetimesawonder there, but there are races here for them with purses just as big, and the spots shouldn't be as tough, either."

Metzger said a re-evaluation process of the Claiming Crown will have to take place in the near future. TOBA co-sponsors the event with the national Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, along with the host track and their local horsemen's organization.

"This event probably hasn't reached its original projections, but it has found a pretty nice niche, and that's a testament to the horsemen and fans that support it," Metzger said. "We'd love to raise the purses, but you have to have the wagering handle to sustain that, so that becomes problematic. We'll sit down with our partners and try to draw up a road map as to where we should head. I know we're going to have to reach out to horsemen and let them know what we have to offer. This has been a terrific event, but clearly the competition in different corridors of the country is posing some difficulty for us."

Mitchell shipping in from Emerald

Outside of his isolated racing circuit in the Pacific Northwest, Gallyn "Bugger" Mitchell hardly is a household name. But when the 47-year-old jockey comes to the Claiming Crown for the first time Saturday, making a rare venture away from home, it will be as the pride of Emerald Downs in Washington.

Mitchell will be here to ride two horses for trainer Vann Belvoir, who also has longstanding Washington ties. He will ride No Flies On Doodle in the Glass Slipper and Elusive Schemes in the Emerald.

Mitchell, the all-time leading rider at Emerald with more than 1,000 wins, has an extremely interesting background. He has been a movie stuntman since age 5, having appeared in such films as "Seabiscuit" and the Mark Wahlberg remake of "Planet of the Apes." Moreover, his wife, Denise, has served as his agent since 1995.

* Fans who haven't been here for a while may notice that the Canterbury Hall of Fame exhibit long situated near the main first-floor entrance has been moved to accommodate the ever-growing card-and-casino operation. The display has been moved to the second floor, where photographs of such luminaries as Carl Nafzger, Sandy Hawley, and the late Dean Kutz are among the dozens of local Hall of Fame members.

* Canterbury is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, having opened on June 26, 1985, to great fanfare. During brief remarks at the Claiming Crown breakfast Wednesday, track president Randy Sampson marveled at how the track has evolved.

"We love exposing our little slice of horse racing heaven to folks from out of town," Sampson said.

Posted: July 23, 2010

After an opening welcome cocktail reception Wednesday night, the real business of the National HBPA's 2010 summer convention got underway on Thursday, July 22. The day was highlighted by two speaker forums - "Technology and Horsemen: The New Frontier" and "The Interstate Racing and Wagering Compact and Horsemen: To Be Feared or Embraced?" The convention, hosted by the Minnesota HBPA, is being held at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Moderated by Washington HBPA President and MRW Advisory, LLC Founding Member Ron Maus, the technology panel took a look at how emerging technology is both changing the way we communicate and get news and the way we do business, with an eye to how these technologies can help the National HBPA, its affiliates, and their member horsemen do business.

First up to speak was National HBPA Director of Communications Richard E. Glover, Jr., who focused on social media and how it can help HBPA affiliates disseminate news and communicate with their members faster and more effectively. His presentation included step-by-step instructions for how to sign up for Facebook and Twitter, as well information on how and why it is important for horsemen's groups to embrace what to some is a scary new world of more interactive communication.

Glover noted that Facebook has well over 400 million members, and 50% of those members are considered active users who log into their account on any given day. Moreover, Facebook users spend over 500 billion minutes per month logged into Facebook. Meanwhile, Twitter has 190 million monthly users.

Top trainer Kenny McPeek spoke next, primarily about a horse racing iPhone application that he has been developing. The app has a great deal of potential as a tool to help grow our sport's fan base and deliver desirable content to our existing participants and fans.

Next, Keith Chamblin, Senior Vice President, Communications, for the NTRA spoke about the research the NTRA has been doing since 2007 regarding social media and web 2.0 and how they have implemented many changes to the way they interface with the public online as a result. They have recently redesigned the NTRA website (www.NTRA.com) to reflect more emphasis on the social aspect of the online experience, including a virtual horse racing game.

The Jockey Club Information Systems, Inc. Director of Marketing Susan Martin closed out the technology panel speakers. She spoke of several TJCIS/Equineline.com offerings that use technology to make it easier and often cheaper for horsemen to do business. The most exciting development she mentioned was a new iPad app they have in development that would make a sales catalog available on an iPad, including links to helpful online reports and the ability to make notes on catalog pages just the way you would with a printed catalog.

While the technology forum was full of great and interesting information, the afternoon's forum about a proposed Interstate Racing and Wagering Compact (IRWC) produced the liveliest discussions of the day. Moderated by Turfway Park President and CEO and NTRA Board of Directors Chair Bob Elliston, the panel featured a great selection of speakers with widely varying perspectives on the subject.

Association of Racing Commissioners International President & CEO Ed Martin and NYRSRWB Assistant Counsel and IRWC Steering Committee Chairman Rick Goodell primarily presented the regulators' point of view, while Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association President & CEO Alan Foreman and National HBPA Racing Compact Working Group Chair and Virginia HBPA Executive Director Frank Petramalo discussed the horsemen's organization's thoughts and concerns. Also there to balance things out was compact expert Rick Masters, Special Counsel for Interstate Compacts, The Council of State Governments, who is well versed in such compacts both in and outside of the racing and gaming industry.

For more background on the proposed IRWC, read the following article that appeared in the Spring 2010 issue of The Horsemen's Journal: Efforts to Create an Interstate Racing and Wagering Compact Underway.

Speakers from all sides of the issue made a number of good points, and it was clear from the question and answer session after the speaker presentations that many of the horsemen in attendance have some concerns about the way the proposed IRWC is set up and whether horsemen will be fairly represented in the rule making process. Discussion was quite lively, and it seems likely that some modifications and/or clarifications will need to be made to the proposed compact in order for the horsemen's groups represented at the forum to be comfortable actively supporting it.

The National HBPA's Board of Directors is considering whether or not it would like to actively support the proposed IRWC compact at this time. Compact supporters are hoping for a vote in support of the IRWC before the end of this convention.

There are two more great speaker forums on tap for today - "The Future of Horse Racing & the Horse Race Wagering Product" and the highly anticipated National HBPA Medication Committee forum "Bute - 5 mcg ... To Be or Not To Be."

Date Posted: 7/23/2010 1:39:07 PM Last Updated: 7/23/2010 1:44:03 PM

Boosted by a 20% increase in import simulcasting handle, Colonial Downs concluded its 40-day meet July 21 with a 13.2% increase in all-source wagering.

The track in New Kent, Virginia reported all-source handle of $34.4 million for a daily average of $860,765. During the 2009 meet, all-source wagering averaged $760,340 from a total $30.4 million. Import wagering totaled $29.3 million, compared $24.4 million one year ago.

The import wagering more than made up for declines in on-track wagering, which fell 15.2% to a daily average of $126,301 from a total of $4.3 million. With the track racing on Wednesday rather than having a Friday twilight card, average daily attendance of 1,499 represented a decline of 11.5%.

For the second consecutive year, Rosemary Homeister Jr. was leading jockey, with 43 wins, and Hamilton Smith won the trainer’s title for the sixth time, with 29 victories. The leading owner was David Ross.

Colonial reported 7.73 average starters per race, down from the 8.89 figure one year ago. Of the 381 total races contested during the meet, 342 were run over the Secretariat turf course.