By David Hooper, CEO, Texas Thoroughbred Association
AUSTIN, (TTA) – With a standing room only crowd in attendance Monday afternoon, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission considered a recommendation passed earlier in the day by its Raceday Medication Committee to phase out the race-day administration of Lasix for all 2-year-old racing in 2013, ending with a complete phase-out for all ages by 2015.The motion failed to pass on a 7-7 tie vote of the 14 sitting commissioners.
Ironically, there could have been a decisive vote, but former commissioner and prominent trainer John T.
Ward had resigned his seat in order to accept an appointment as the KHRC’s executive director. He assumed his new duties on the day of the vote.
A modified proposed ban is expected to be introduced when the KHRC meets in mid-May.
Stay tuned. This debate is not going away any time soon.
CALHOUN SADDLES 1-2 PREMIERE RUNNERS; ON BRINK OF 2,000 CAREER WINS
Trainer Bret Calhoun saddled the 1-2 finishers in the $50,000 Premiere Stakes, the first race of the 53-day 2012 Lone Star Park Thoroughbred meet, to get the conditioner on track for a defense of the training title that he has won in each of the past two meets in Grand Prairie.
The 16th edition of the Premiere for older Texas-breds found Wimp Free Racing Stable’s recent acquisition Gold Element outgaming his stablemate, Red Coyote, by 1½ lengths under Lindey Wade. Gold Element completed the 6½ furlongs in a very respectable 1:15.70. Deliverer finished third, 2¼ lengths further back after having to be checked in close quarters near the end of the backstretch. Even-money favorite Solar Charge, winner of Sam Houston Race Park’s Spirit of Texas, could do no better than fourth.
Gold Element, a lightly raced 5-year-old son of Valor Farm stallion Gold Legend, was making only his sixth start and winning for the fifth time after having suffered his lone defeat at the hooves of Solar Charge when third last January. Wimp Free Racing, whose principal owner is Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist and DFW radio personality Randy Galloway, acquired Gold Element on Calhoun’s recommendation after the Spirit of Texas. Calhoun added blinkers for the Premiere. The winner paid $10.
Calhoun began this new week of racing on the brink of his 2,000th career training victory. He has two horses entered to run at Lone Star tonight.
JEH STALLION STATION STAKES GIVES RUBY’S BIG BAND HER 12TH WIN IN 36 STARTS
In an era when a racing career is all too often limited to single digits, Ruby’s Big Band is a very refreshing exception. The 5-year-old Texas-bred mare made her 36th career start on Lone Star’s opening Saturday and she earned her 12th victory by taking the $50,000 JEH Stallion Station Stakes by 1¾ lengths over 2-1 choice Joy’s Paradise, with 20-1 Loose Play two lengths farther back in third.
Ruby’s Big Band, bred by Will Farish, races for Terry Propps and is trained by Charles Smith. The winner increased her earnings to $272,449 after running 6½ furlongs in 1:17.57. She paid $11.60.
NEW DEPARTMENT OF LABOR H-2B RULES BECOME EFFECTIVE ON APRIL 23
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued final rules on February 21, 2012 concerning the H-2B temporary guest worker program, and they will become effective Monday, April 23.
The American Horse Council advises all members of the horse industry who use the H-2B program to fill semi-skilled jobs at racetracks, horse shows, fairs and similar non-agricultural activities to become fully aware of provisions in the newly enacted DOL rule governing the program.
Provisions in the new rule: (1) Require an employer to pay most inbound and outbound travel expenses for H-2B workers; (2) Extend H-2B program benefits, such as reimbursement of transportation cost, to American “corresponding workers” that work alongside H-2B workers and perform substantially the same work; (3) Require employers to provide documentation that they have taken appropriate steps to recruit U.S. workers, rather than permitting employers to attest to such compliance; (4) Increase the amount of time employers must try to recruit U.S. workers; (5) Define temporary need as 9 months – previously it was 10 months; and (6) Define full-time employment as 35 hours a week – previously it was 30 hours.
Commenting on the new rule, AHC Legislative Director Ben Pendergrass observed, “This final rule is complex and has many new provisions and changes. If you are an employer who uses the program, you should review the new guidelines and contact the lawyer or agent you use to process H-2B applications to ensure you are in compliance with the new rule when it goes into effect on April 23.”
Fast furlongs…Steve Asmussen became the first trainer in Lone Star Park history to reach the 1,000 win milestone when Primal Jones took last Saturday’s second race…Putting Asmussen’s achievement in perspective, veteran jockey Cliff Berry is the winningest rider to date in Lone Star history, but his 819 victories on the Grand Prairie oval are nearly 200 less than Asmussen’s total…Gulfstream Park’s new dates, starting in early December and ending the first weekend in April, produced new handle records for the 2011-12 meet…Keeneland, with its signature Blue Grass Stakes highlighting a stellar card last Saturday, and Charles Town, which offered the $1,000,000 Charles Town Classic on Saturday night, both posted record daily attendance and handle figures…Keeneland has received KHRC approval to open drive-through betting windows in the parking lots of the Kentucky Horse Park and the Thoroughbred Training Center as a convenience to customers on Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby Days…Keeneland has sold 80% of its share in Turfway Park to Rock Gaming, whose chairman, Dan Gilbert, is the founder of Quicken Loans and the majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers… The Turfway ownership is now divided as follows: Caesars Entertainment 50%, Rock Gaming 40% and Keeneland 10%…USDA officials have rejected a second offer to buy bankrupt Yavapai Downs near Prescott, AZ, this time turning down Texas horseman Joe Davis…Spectrum Gaming Group, a New jersey firm, has produced a study showing that adding five new casinos in Illinois and allowing slot machines at the state’s six racetracks would yield nearly $200 million per year for the state and create more than 20,000 jobs…The Jockey Club and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) announced the launch of a new fan-oriented website, “America’s Best Racing,” which includes information about horses, jockeys, trainers, owners and races, plus tools to explore and learn about wagering, the latest news, videos and photos, all accessed at www.followhorseracing.com…Del Mar has increased purses for 10 of its 33 stakes scheduled during the 37-day summer meet, and added two new added-money events for 2-year-olds on turf, the Oak Tree Juvenile Turf and the Oak Tree Juvenile Fillies Turf, meant to be steppingstones toward the two Breeders’ Cup juvenile turf stakes…Remember all that hype coming out of California over purse increases that would result from raising takeout on two and 3-horse exotic wagers? Well, the California Horse Racing Board’s 2011 annual report, with the takeout increase effective for one year, cites the following declines: handle 15.6%, a loss of over $500,000,000; purses 5.1%, state breeding funds 18.4%, Internet wagering 8%, and revenue for promotions, stable vanning program and other initiatives, 11.4%…Lesson to be learned: raise the price of betting and revenues decline…September 1 will mark a changing of the guard at Keeneland when Nick Nicholson retires and turns the dual reins of president/CEO over to Bill Thomason, the association’s current vice president/CFO…Reports have surfaced in the Bluegrass that historic Calumet Farm, currently held by a trust since its purchase at auction 20 years ago by the late Henryk De Kwiatkowski, is on the brink of being sold to Franklin, KY, businessman Brad Kelley, who already owns interests in several Kentucky farms and has horses running in his name with D. Wayne Lukas…ATB awards for Sam Houston Race Park’s winter/spring Thoroughbred meet were mailed on April 18.
No comments:
Post a Comment