From Advocates of Racing to Advocates for Gaming

I have retracted this entry as it has become obvious to me that I stepped into an issue with dynamics behind the scene which I was unaware of that went further than gaming issues in the letter to the editor.  It is now clear I didn't do enough research before commenting on the issue.  In no way was I attempting to disparage any individual or group. 

While a blog is an opinion piece, I regret not going further to get additional background information.  While some of the points I made may have had some validity, it is appropriate for me in this case to "throw the baby out with the bath water".

If I offended anyone with this posting, I apologize.  In no way was I trying to say all horsemen groups and specifically in this case the Cloverleaf horsemen's group is neglecting the horsemen's best interests.    Simply put, I screwed up.

I will strive to do better in the future and I thank you for your understanding..

Closing Night at the Meadowlands

How could I resist handicapping the 2012 finale at the Meadowlands, it being a stake-laden card?  Post time Friday is 6:35pm.  If you can get out to the track on Friday it should be a great evening of racing, another RUS non-wagering event, plus fireworks at the end of the race card.  Don't forget the Vernon-Meadowlands Driving Championship where the top ten money earning drivers in North America as of the date of selection will be competing in designated races.  Other activities are in store and admission is free on Friday night.

One distressing thing on the race card and that is in the first race, a $150,000 NJSS Final for 2yo trotting colts and geldings.  Only six horses dropped in the box for the final?  While I understand the hows and whys, it is sad to see New Jersey's once prominent breeding industry reduced to the point where only six horses are around to drop into a $150,000 final.  You expect to see this in California or Maryland, not in New Jersey.

For those unable to attend the Meadowlands on Hambletonian Day and missed the RUS contest, here is video of the race.





Without further ado, here are my selections:

1st Trot - $150,000; NJSS Final - 2yo colts and geldings (6:35 Post Time)
4  - Corky (D Miller,4-5)
3  - King Muscles (Pierce, 8-1)
6  - Deadliest Catch (Campbell,7-2)

2nd Pace - $9,500; NW $4,000 Last 5 ($10,000 Opt Clm) - Vernon/Meadowlands Driving Championship
6  - Beware of Darkness (Palone, 8-1)
7  - Topgun Raider (Pierce, 4-1)
8  - Ala Care Bill (Jamieson, 9-2)

Non-Wagering Trot - $5,500; RUS Open
4  - Armbro Doyle (H Gregory)
3  - Chinese Cuisine (T Duer)
1  - Keepin The Chips (J Melander)

3rd Trot - $150,000; NJSS Final - 2yo fillies
  3  - With Sugar (Takter, 8-1)
  8  - Shared Past (Gingras, 3-1)
  6  - Time To Kill (Campbell, 15-1)
10  - Lady Dynamite (Pierce, 9-2)

4th Trot - $191,500; Moni Maker - 3yo fillies
1  - Maven (Gingras, 7-5)
7  - Win Missy B (Sears, 10-1)
9  - Delicious (Pierce, 8-1)

5th Pace - $150,000; NJSS Final - 2yo fillies
1  - Authorize (Sears, 5-2)
3  - Sombodythatiustono (A Miller, 7-2)
8  - Jerseylicious (Callahan, 4-1)
4  - Ideal A Little (Pierce, 10-1)

6th Pace - $150,000; NJSS Final - 2yo colts and geldings
9  - Rocknmy Jeans (Sears, 5-1)
2  - Rockin Amadeus (Gingras, 7-2)
7  - Johnny Rock (Tetrick, 5-2)

7th Pace - $218,850; Golden Girls - FFA Mares
  8  - Rebeka Bayama (Filion, 5-1)
  5  - Put On A Show (Jamieson, 5-2)
  2  - Anndrovette (Tetrick, 3-1)
11  - Drop The Ball (Gingras, 4-1)

8th Pace - $15,000; NW $11,250 Last 5 ($30,000 Opt Clm) - Vernon/Meadowlands Driving Championship
4  - Bettor Design (Palone, 15-1)
7  - Intheblinkofaneye (Gingras, 3-1)
3  - Gaelic Thunder (Tetrick, 6-1)

9th Pace - $12,500; NW $6,500 Last 5 ($15,000 Opt clm) - Vernon/Meadowlands Driving Championship
6  - Prince Shakra (Palone, 9-2)
3  - Evening Job (Brennan, 3-1)
4  - Art's Jummy Ray (Tetrick, 8-1)
2  - Harrah's Best (Sears, 10-1)

10th Pace - $431,000; William R Haughton Memorial - FFA
5  - Aracache Hanover (Mcnair, 7-2)
3  - Foiled Again (Gingras, 9-2) .
2  - Golden Receiver (A Miller, 5-2)
7  - Meirs Hanover (Morrill, 6-1)
Scratched - #4 Alexie Mattosie

11th Trot - $40,000; Miss Versatility - Mares
  1  - Unefoisdansmavie (Gingras, 8-1)
  3  - Cedar Dove (Pierce, 5-2)
  4  - Magic Wheel (Callahan, 4-1)
10  - Beatgoeson Hanover (Brennan, 10-1) .

12th Pace - $9,500; NW $4,000 Last 5 ($10,000 Opt Clm) - Vernon/Meadowlands Driving Championship
6  - Mega Lightning (Pierce, 3-1)
8  - Corky Baran (Palone, 9-2)
2  - Stormin Rustler (Brennan, 10-1)
1  - Hedges Lane (Tetrick, 5-1)
5  - Blue Claw (Sears, 7-2)

Chip Those Horses and Holding Owners Responsible

This blog entry is about all horses, not just racing breeds, but any type of horse.  It is about the permissiveness of letting horse owners throughout the nation skirt their responsibility. 

Pro-horse slaughter advocates claim each time states threaten to outlaw horse slaughter, horses are at an increased risk of being abandoned, released on public lands to starve to death or abused.  They also talk about slaughtering the horses would be more 'humane' than transporting them to Canada or Mexico.

I don't want to go into great detail about this 'more humane' argument as it really isn't the point of this column.  I guess an argument could be made for it, the same way you could argue a person drowning in three feet of water is more humane than them drowning in six feet of water.  They still drown the same.

There is responsibility to horse ownership which is implied, the same way there is for owning dogs.  This responsibility is when a horse is unwanted and no home can be found for it, suffering, or reached the end of its usefulness, the owner should provide the horse with a humane end of life (euthanasia).

My real problem is how we as a society allow horse owners (from the parent's of the child who has grown to old for their first pony, the person who has lost interest or can no longer afford their horse, to yes, the owner of a race horse who is no longer able to compete in races successfully who now consider the horse a disposable piece of property) to get away with shirking the responsibilities of horse ownership.  Proponents of horse slaughter claim without ways to get rid of horses people no longer want, horse owners will just abandon (or abuse) their horses and wipe their hands of their responsibility. 

While I have doubts, let's accept their argument at face value.  My question is why are we allowing people to shirk their responsibilities to their horse?  Instead of letting people off the hook by allowing them to dump their horses or making a few bucks by letting someone else dispose of their 'problem', it is time to hold those who choose the easy way out accountable.

It should be law that every horse be micro-chipped with the ownership of the horse recorded and updated if ownership is transferred.  If a horse is abused or found wandering on public land starving, it is time society tells horse owners this is unacceptable and hold them accountable..

Make no mistake, there are groups who will oppose such a plan, citing it will discourage horse ownership.  This may be true.  But if a person is unwilling or unable to do the right thing when the time comes, I would suggest this person shouldn't be owning a horse in the first place. 

The time has come to hold horse owners responsible for taking care of their horses when the time comes, not giving them a way to wipe their hands of their responsibility.  If those proponents of horse slaughter truly have the best interests of the horse at heart, they should be more than happy to support such a proposal.  Unfortunately, I don't think many of them would.

Horse Rescue United Update

Readers of this blog have previously been introduced to Horse Rescue United (HRU), a horse rescue founded by standardbred trainer Anouk Busch who uses her spare time to work with HRU volunteers in rehabilitating, training horses for a new career, as well as working to get HRU’s horses adopted.  Many of her horses come from owner surrenders or via horse auctions as HRU has at times gone to places such as New Holland, PA to bid on and purchase horses so the kill buyers are unable to get the horses.  This article provides an update on what is going on with this horse rescue.

While HRU specializes in standardbred rescues, they will help other breeds of horses as well.  I had previously discussed Trolley, a horse that had a hole in her face with a sock glued in which HRU rescued from the Camelot horse auction in Cranbury, NJ and has since been adopted out as well as Tristan, a Belgian Draft horse saved from the kill buyers at New Holland for $35 who turned out to have cancer in his eye.  A trip to New Bolton had veterinarians determining the cancer spread to his bones and gave Tristan a 3-6 month life expectancy.  Well, jumping ahead more than a year and a half later and with the cancerous eye removed, Tristan is still around, with a safe home at HRU for the rest of his life.

Their latest acquisition is another Belgian Draft horse named Hailey who was formerly owned by a person who had been brought to court for animal neglect recently on another horse.  When she arrived at HRU, it was clear she was in need of rehabilitation.   

Hailey before (l) and Hailey after (r)

Hailey (l) and Tristan (r)

Adoption applications for Hailey are now being accepted although she won’t be adopted out until she gains more weight and is evaluated under saddle.  However, there are other horses available for adoption now, such as these two standardbreds.




Bummie



Cookie's Kid




Since I last discussed HRU, they have been granted 501(c)3 status by the Internal Revenue Service so all donations made now are tax-deductable as permitted by law.  You may read more about Horse Rescue United and see the other horses available for adoption at HRU’s website or you may visit HRU on Facebook where updates are regularly posted on the progress of HRU’s horses, including their alumni in their new homes.

While the work of HRU is important to me, it is important to note there are other horse rescues out there which do good work.  I hope to be able to highlight some of the other smaller rescues out there helping standardbreds in the near future. 

A Response from the Judges Stand

In an earlier post, since deleted, I mentioned the judges at The Meadows did not get back to me concerning the 11th race at The Meadows on July 26, 2012. Since then, I have heard from the PHRC regarding the race in question. Apparently, there were some changes in the PHRC office at The Meadows which resulted in my query being misplaced

If you recall from the original posting, the video of the race in question showed the winning horse, On The Tab, being 4-1 when the field passed the 3/4 marker yet only paid $5.60 to win (9-5). The question raised was how could the odds change that late in the race? Could the windows have stayed open at the track or at a remote location? Was it a transmission error? Or was there some other explanation.

Upon receiving the inquiry, the judge contacted the Director of Racing who went to the mutuel department which confirmed all tote machines were closed on time for the race in question.

According to the TV Department, the odds shown under the running numbers come from a computer link to the mutuel department. When the judge questioned the head of mutuels on how the odds could change so late in the race, it was confirmed the final odds change was later than usual as final odds are typically determined by the time a race reaches the half mile pole. However, there are occasions the final wagers are recorded later due to the way the wagers are routed from hubs due to communications issues. While the odds changed later than usual, it can be worse. We all have had times when a race couldn't be declared official due to tote problems. Often the tote problem is waiting for the final transmissions of wagers from other hubs.

So, the bottom line is no bets were made once the race went off. The noticeable odds change was due to a late transmission of wagers from the various wagering hubs, the result of how wagers to be co- mingled are transmitted to the host track's pools. With smaller pools at The Meadows (when compared to some of the Eastern tracks), the late transmissions of these wagers can, and in this case, did have a noticeable impact on the final odds.

The integrity of the pools were protected. Unfortunately, due to the way wagers are co-mingled, the perception is and will remain that there is a problem with the existing wagering platform, something which will continue to be a black eye for the smaller tracks. However, until there is an incentive to improve the tote system (basically larger handles), gamblers are forced to deal with the shortcomings and no doubt is it hurting betting handle.  For when serious and recreational gamblers who are looking at the risk/reward equation constantly find out their reward is being undercut, we risk the exodus of these individuals to other games where the risk/reward ratio is fixed.    Should we expect any different response?  After all, your serious gamblers don't look at racing as a game, it is part of their income.