A Risky Game of Speculation

With the main proponents of the NJ Casino Expansion bill ceasing to spend on advertising, resigned to letting the chips fall where they may, it would appear the referendum for North Jersey gaming will go down to defeat.  Thus, horsemen and others in the harness racing industry no doubt are wondering what this will mean to the Meadowlands.  Some people are claiming this is the end of the Meadowlands.  

With Jeff Gural already committing to keep on racing, albeit with a cut stakes calendar, it is too early to write the epitaph for the Meadowlands. Make no mistake, the quality of racing is likely to decrease further but talk of its death is too soon.  If referring to the end of racing as we knew it there; a different story no doubt.

So let's play a parlor game of Speculation, where we come up with what we think racing will look like next year in East Rutherford.  This is particularly risky because lets face it, I don't have the financials nor do I know what Mr. Gural has planned. Furthermore, we likely won't hear anything until after election day because lets face it, while highly unlikely, the referendum could pass.

While I am focusing on the Meadowlands, there is Freehold Raceway to consider.  I suspect things will continue on pretty much the same.  This means in 2017, roughly 110 days of racing will take place.

As for the Meadowlands, I suspect they will try to cut back on their 90 days of racing; probably more like 80 days.  Of course, under NJ law, the horsemen have to agree to the cut in racing dates

Were I to apply for racing dates, the Meadowlands would go back to its meat and potato days, racing the majority of dates in the winter, possibly on a three or four day schedule.  Then I would schedule a summer meet around the Hambletonian, with possibly ten weeks of racing twice a week.

Other than the Hambletonian, I would probably end the majority of stakes races; perhaps keeping the TVG Series races for older horse around as TVG sponsors the races.  Overnight purses would be cut a bit to allow for repayment of the purse account deficit so the bottom level would remain at the $7,500 claiming tag as was the case this year. only theses races would be contested more often.

Of course, what happens once the Meadowlands closes the first weekend in August?  This year there has been more harness racing taking place, I would imagine that would be out.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Meadowlands seeks a thoroughbred meet of their own, not just Monmouth Park at Meadowlands, in an effort to see if  the return of the runners for a longer stanza would result in more income opportunities to cut the losses.

So those are my thoughts.  Putting all this out here now is risky because while some of these ideas may actually come to fruition, there is a good chance of me ending up with egg in my face.  Time will tell.  

Do you have any predictions?

  

Unwelcome Guests and Yougurt

Jug week is over and I for one am sorry it didn't end sooner.  For a week which usually shows harness racing at its county fair best with some of the best horses racing, this is a week which will be known as the appearance of an unwelcome guest and in true American-theater, Yogurtgate.

The controversy started the day before the Jugette when persona non-grata Lou Pena was seen inside the stall of entrant I Said Diamonds which necessitated a scratch of the filly.  Pena is not licensed in Ohio and as such it was a violation of detention rules.  One can wonder what Pena was doing in the stall.  It is not my place to make any accusations, but being Pena is a person with a checkered past, his presence was certainly not welcomed by the vast majority of the race's participants.  It will be up to Ohio racing officials to determine what kind of relationship Pena may have with the listed trainer Matias Ruiz.

If that wasn't bad enough, then came Yogurtgate.  When a phone lost by one of Trainer Cassie Coleman's assistants was found, the person came upon messages which could have been considered indicative of wrong-doing, possibly suggesting treating the horse in violation of detention barn rules.  Coleman claims the 'treatment' talked about was yogurt though one has to wonder why the message didn't say "..get his yogurt into him.." instead of referring to a 'treatment'.  Maybe it was a poor choice of words but it certainly caused a lot of controversy with trainers threatening a mass scratch but thankfully voting instead not to post parade with the eventual Jug winner Betting Line and racing under protest.   To be balanced, it needs to be reported that Coleman's stalls, trailer, and car were searched by racing officials with nothing coming up.  Needless to say, even if completely vindicated, this will not be one of racing's proudest moments, one covered by the Columbus Dispatch for its readers.

Sadly, apparently Coleman uses any old yogurt.  Think of the commercial endorsements which could have been forthcoming if a named-brand was used.

One thing is for sure, Delaware needs to be more vigilant in the future when it comes to detention barn enforcement as this is something the Jug doesn't need to have repeated.

A positive (if there is one) is the fact named trainers went to the judges in both cases.  Maybe the wall of silence has been breached.  Of course, let's see if these trainers will go to judges when they see something in a $15,000 race.  If so, then this year's Jugette and Jug may be marked down as a turning point.  If not, then this will be a blot not soon forgotten.

Preparing for a Nuclear Winter

With news coming from the Our Turn New Jersey Campaign that they are ceasing all paid advertising in support of the New Jersey gaming expansion, defeat has been conceded by the pro-gaming supporters.  As a result, there is little doubt the referendum to expand gaming will go down to defeat.  If as promised by Jeff Gural, this means a 'nuclear winter' of sort is likely coming to East Rutherford, the cancellation of most stakes races as the pro-gaming forces wait the two years before another attempt to pass an expansion of gaming in New Jersey can take place.

Okay, nuclear winter may be a bit extreme.  There are enough stakes races thanks to racino revenue for horsemen on a national level, so horsemen will be spared from an immediate impact of the Meadowlands jettisoning most stakes (The Hambletonian would appear to be safe) would appear to be minimal.  However, the long term impact of this collapse of stakes racing is disconcerting.

Let's not kid ourselves, if stakes racing disappears from the Meadowlands, one must wonder what will happen to the overnight purses?  Will the Meadowlands become Freehold North or remain at the level of this past year's racing?  Without stakes and high-caliber racing, handle is likely to drop continuing pressure on purses, plus the absence of stakes racing will likely put harness racing out of the view of the New York and national media.  After this year, it will be a long time, if ever that the Breeders Crown will return to the Meadowlands.

Other tracks will be hurt as it is likely much of the simulcast wagering on the Meadowlands will be lost to harness racing, moving over to other forms of horse racing where gamblers will find pools large enough to wager on.  This means harness tracks which depend on their own customers to wager on the Meadowlands will find their revenue dropping.  Racino tracks may be able to sustain such loses but those tracks without racinos will feel an immediate drop on their bottom line.

New Jersey racing, already on life support, faces a severe threat to its sustainability as what little hope breeders were using to promote their stallions in the state has all but vanished.  Will the few stallions in state abandon the state further decimating the sires stakes program, leaving the NJ program surviving on state-bred horses?

No, nationally things won't collapse immediately, but if the cuts to the Meadowlands stakes schedule are as draconian as led to believe, the impact on harness racing will be reverberating underneath the surface, waiting to crack through.

Hmmm, maybe nuclear winter isn't that far off.


Atlantic City Can Drop Dead - Says Jeff Gural in an interview at the Little Brown Jug.  He predicts the defeat of the referendum will hurt Atlantic City and the next time around, he doesn't see linking any future referendum to supporting Atlantic City casinos.  Basically, Atlantic City made its bed and now it can sleep in it.  I tend to agree with him; this legislation would have helped to stabilize Atlantic City somewhat whereas the cannibalism of the market with new casinos coming online in New York continuing to eat Atlantic City's lunch.   It may be a race to the bottom between racing and Atlantic City.

Speech for the SAFE Act – Fred Hudson

The following is a speech being presented today by horseman Fred Hudson at the USDA as part of a national demonstration in support the SAFE Act .

His comments are presented in their entirety. 

September 22, 2016 at USDA, Washington DC

Thank you, everyone, who is here today – I know that many of you have made many personal sacrifices to be here today (thank you). We are here today to speak for the horses who cannot speak for themselves. As God’s appointed caretakers of them we are not doing a very good job – but today we can change that and we can send out a message that will change everything and end the shipment of our horses to other countries so they can be slaughtered. Today, together, we can end the slaughter of our American horses that also represent a symbol of who we are as “Americans”.

I am a third generation Standardbred horse trainer. I grew up with horses, and horses have always been a part of my life. At one time, I trained and managed one of the largest stables in the country. Today I act as a consultant and adviser to several horse owners and I coauthored the Amazon best-seller, Roosevelt Raceway. I am very active with the Standardbred Retirement Foundation and I am working with other Standardbred leaders on efforts to establish a Standardbred Aftercare Alliance*.

When I first started training horses, most horses raced on a combination of hay, oats, and water – adding some vitamins like B-12 and a little liver and iron and maybe a post-treatment of bute (Phenylbutazone), a pain and anti-inflammatory drug.

Today, horses are treated with legal medications for bleeding, anti-inflammatory drugs, wormers, drugs for infections, ulcers, allergies, sedatives/tranquilizers, steroids and many others. 70% of all medications used on horses clearly state on the label “Not to be used for treatment on animals intended for human consumption”.

Bute has been and is the most common medication used on horses – for that reason alone no horse should be in the human food chain. Even the pet food companies won't use horses in their feeds for it being so unsafe for pets to eat.

In the racing industry, we also have the illegal medications that the unscrupulous trainers use. The performance enhancement drugs with names like elephant juice, frog juice, milkshakes, the muscle relaxers, and the blood doping that increases the oxygen supply to the muscles. We have no idea of what they are using and they would be more likely to sell a horse to slaughter over an honest trainer/owner.

Last year Nancy Watson, one of the founders of Safe Food Safe Horses, asked me to speak here as she did this year. Nancy's family and mine go back many years . Her stepfather, Jim, is a good friend of mine and her grandfather, Cecil, in the 1950's won the American Trotting Championship twice and he was good friends with my dad.

Over the past year I, along with Nancy and many others, have been working behind the scenes contacting and meeting with many members of Congress trying to gain support and co-sponsors for the SAFE Act. We currently stand at 196 in the house and 29 in the Senate. The Bill is now in committees with both houses – We need to get this bill out of the committees and onto the floors for a vote.

The racing industries, Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds, have taken great steps forward in trying to prevent their horses from this horrible death. The Thoroughbreds have set up the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. Some of their efforts include a $5 entry fee for all horses that race and that money is diverted to the TAA to care for horses. Also many of the tracks now bar or take the racing privileges away from trainers and owners that knowingly sell a horse to be slaughtered.

With the Standardbreds – a few months ago I was invited to attend a meeting that was held at the Meadowlands and arranged by Jeff Gural (owner of the Meadowlands) and Michelle Crawford (owner of Crawford Farms). In that meeting were industry leading trainers, rescue farms, a United States Trotting Association representative and at that meeting we took the first step in forming the Standardbred Aftercare Alliance. Jeff Gural and Michelle Crawford graciously offered the seed money. Crawford farms has also set up a section of their farm as a sanctuary for rescued horses and Michelle has saved many horses this year.

Also at that meeting was my good friend Judy Bokman, the founder of the Standardbred Retirement Foundation. I spoke of Judy last year when I told the story of how she formed the SRF by throwing herself in front of a truck that had a horse bound for slaughter, and how she saved that horse, and that horse became the first of her 2700 plus saves. A few weeks ago she saved 10 horses from a kill buyer and then the following week she went to another kill buyer to save one horse and ended up saving three and one of them so that the horse could be humanly put down to end his suffering.

The SRF is a role model for all rescues to follow. They never give up the ownership of the horses that are adopted from them and they constantly follow up with the adopters throughout the life of every horse that has been adopted. They currently have over 200 horses in their care.

I was privileged this year to work with Grammy winner, Trade Martin, as he produced a commercial for the SRF and wrote a song for them, titled “I can't Say How Much I Love You”.

The statistics show that 69% of the horses slaughtered in Canada come from the U.S. Last year we sent 40,000 horses to Canada to be slaughtered and we sent another 85,000 to Mexico to be slaughtered for a total of 125,000 – down 15,000 from the previous year. The European Union has barred horse-meat from Mexico. We import from Mexico hundreds of millions of pounds of ground-beef and through DNA testing 39% of meat tested – tested positive for horse. So I guess that Mexico has found a new market for the unwanted horse-meat that the European Union has rejected. I cannot imagine eating a horse – I find it repulsive and it just turns my stomach to think of it.

We need to start enforcing the laws that Congress has currently put in place. We cannot allow the kill buyer to continue to fill out his own paperwork – which he knowingly falsifies. We need to enforce the animal cruelty laws. We also need to hold the auction houses that sell these horses accountable for selling horses that they know are loaded with drugs that are not allowed in animals intended for human consumption.

To Congress and the members of the Senate Committee of Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the House Sub-Committee of Livestock and Foreign Agriculture – 80% of the American people – I will repeat that - 80% of the American people want an end to horse slaughter. Get this bill, the Safeguard American Food Export Act on the floor for a vote. It is the will of the people. And it will end the slaughter of our American horses.

Thank you.

* In my speech - I didn't mention who sat in on the meeting to form or start to form the Standardbred Aftercare Alliance - the two trainers that sat in were Tony Alagna and Nancy Johansson - The USTA representative was Ellen Harvey. 

Jugette Controversy

Tongues are wagging over the scratch of I Said Diamonds from the Jugette yesterday, the result of "unauthorized persons" being in the Jugette Barn.  I won't be mentioning who the individual(s) allegedly were but I imagine if you are resourceful you'll see who people are speculating about.

Of course, this is not the first time someone unauthorized was present in a barn at Delaware.  Unfortunately, this is one of the downsides of having the stable area so accessible to the public.  Perhaps these people feel they will mix in with the public; that no one will notice them.  Maybe it is just a brazen contempt for the racing rules.

Unless the racing press spikes the story, I imagine more details will be forthcoming.  As many of you, I look forward to learning all the facts and to see if there will be any consequences for anyone who violated the rules.  There is no sense not to discuss the story, after all we have learned not discussing these issues fails to solve these issues.  Only a frank discussion of what happened and its eventual disposition will lead us to clean up these types of cases.


Over at the Paulick Report, there is a story regarding the Stronach Group informing two trainers their entries will not be accepted at any of their racing facilities, apparently the result of a trainer serving as a 'paper' trainers, something in harness racing we call a 'beard'.  I find this type of reaction to paper trainers quite refreshing, especially with the exception of the Meadowlands, it seems transferring horses to a beard and racing them doesn't seem to cause anything more than a yawn.  Why do most tracks allow these beards amazes me?  Is it people don't look or don't care?  I welcome your opinions.