Final Turn : Safety and Integrity

Derby Weekend Celebration - by Dr. Scott Palmer

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:42:00 GMT

(Originally published in the May 16, 2009 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Calvin Borel, Bennie “Chip” Woolley Jr., and Mine That Bird stole the show in the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I). The upset victory was a Cinderella story if there ever was one. A hard-working, ex-rodeo-cowboy-turned-Thoroughbred trainer drives to Louisville from New Mexico hauling his Derby-bound horse. Borel rode Mine That Bird with a Street Sense-like determination that proved unbeatable in one of the most dramatic finishes in Derby history. Does it get any better than that?

Borel and Mind That Bird weren’t the only winners on the first Saturday in May. In the past year the Thoroughbred racing industry has been focused on reform initiatives designed to make racing safer for both horses and riders. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association Safety and Integrity Alliance has put in place an accreditation program that has stimulated racetracks to institute policies and capital improvements that have created a climate of increased awareness and dedication to the safety of our athletes.

Some have embraced and supported these initiatives. Others are skeptical of the progress made in the past year. They point to the lack of a national racing commissioner and persistent variability in rules and regulations among the 38 racing jurisdictions in the U.S. as shortfalls of this effort. Still others say all this work is a lot of talk and that nothing substantial has really changed. They say you can’t legislate morality or responsibility.

The events leading up to the running of the 2009 Kentucky Derby speak differently.

Decisions by the connections of several Derby contenders demonstrate an increased awareness of safety issues and a commitment to “put the horse first.” Three horses were withdrawn as Derby starters in the week leading up to the race. Quality Road’s connections were unable to resolve a quarter crack. The connections of this horse could have managed him into the race. Instead they put the horse first. Win Willy was not entered due to an ankle problem, and Square Eddie was removed because of a shin injury. Most notably, the morning-line favorite in the race, I Want Revenge, was scratched in the early daylight hours of race day, not due to a fever or obvious lameness but because inflammation was found in the right front fetlock, an indication of an injury that could have placed him at risk had he raced.

Breeder and co-owner David Lanzman, trainer Jeff Mullins, and veterinarian Dr. Foster Northrop weren’t just talking a good game. They walked the walk. This is the first time in Derby history that the morning-line favorite was scratched the day of the race. They put the excitement, the hopes, and the dreams of the moment aside. They put the horse first.

A number of heroes surround this year’s Derby. On the backside of the racetrack, people are focused on safety. They are taking greater individual responsibility for their actions. It’s true we haven’t accomplished all of our goals yet, but correcting the course of the racing industry is a massive endeavor and can’t be turned quite as quickly as we might like.

However, there is progress, and the horse is the beneficiary. Safety issues are at the forefront of racing. First you change the attitude, and the behavior follows. As long as responsible horsemen stay focused on the safety and welfare of the horse, we will continue to make progress toward our goals of reform.

The Jockey Club, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, the Association of Racing Commissioners International, and others have all been working to pass model rules that promote uniformity and increased safety and integrity. The AAEP’s recommendations on racehorse safety provided a veterinary viewpoint to insure that in the process of racing reform, the horse was the priority.
Horses are the better for all of these efforts.

We can all celebrate the first weekend in May. It was a remarkable weekend on a number of levels. Congratulations to Calvin Borel and the connections of Rachel Alexandra and Mine That Bird for two performances for the ages.

Behind the scenes, horsemen are working to improve the sport and put the horse first. We should celebrate that as well.

Dr. Scott Palmer is the owner of New Jersey Equine Clinic in Clarksburg, N.J., and is chair of the AAEP’s racing committee.

Unprecendented Progress - by Alex Waldrop

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:07:00 GMT

It was just a matter of time.

Even though the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) is a month away, the spotlight is shining brightly on safety issues relating to Thoroughbred racing. Recent media accounts provide ample evidence that over the next two months, and perhaps for a much longer period, we are going to be under the microscope like in no other time as we near the one-year anniversary of Eight Belles’ tragic accident and the controversial events surrounding last year’s Triple Crown.

Expect well-organized, well-funded animal rights activists—the same ones who recently worked to ban dog racing in Massachusetts and fox hunting in England—to portray our sport and those of us who derive our livelihood or enjoyment from it as inhumane, uncaring, and greedy. When possible, they will seize upon sympathetic news outlets and legislators to advance their agenda. They will be joined by a small but vocal group of opportunists seeking to promote their own agenda in what has become an annual rite of spring.

At the same time, many sincere, well-meaning people—who are tired of current medication policies, who are frustrated that not enough progress has been made, or who support federal intervention as the only means to reform the industry—will find themselves in an odd marriage of convenience with these extremists and opportunists.

The better approach in my view and one we are striving to follow at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association is healthy debate combined with transparency and collaboration. This is the process that led to the formation of the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance. Nonetheless, our customers, media, and even industry participants have every right to be skeptical about meaningful reform within our industry. Let’s be honest: We are a sport rich in tradition that historically has not embraced change. That is, until recently.

In the past 10 months alone anabolic steroids have been effectively banned in the racing jurisdictions representing 99.6% of pari-mutuel handle on Thoroughbred horse races.

Nearly 80 racetracks are participating in a new national injury reporting system that will provide comprehensive data for the scientific research our industry is proactively supporting to foster a safer racing environment.

National standards have been adopted with regard to horseshoe and hoof care that will lead to fewer equine injuries and greater health and safety for both horse and rider.

Virtually every major racetrack in North America—along with owners, breeders, trainers, jockeys, veterinarians, regulators, and even fans—have pledged their support to the NTRA Alliance. A rigorous accreditation process, similar in structure to those utilized in other fields such as health care and education, is under way.

Four-term Wisconsin Governor and former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson has been retained to measure the industry’s progress and ensure transparency.

What astounds me is the number of people in our industry who either don’t understand or refuse to acknowledge the unprecedented progress the industry has made on the medication front over the last several years. Race-day medications have been virtually eliminated nationwide. Testing protocols have vastly improved, and there is promise of even more progress soon.

The perceived lack of progress on the medication front is no doubt due to our industry’s lack of consensus on one single issue—the race day administration of Salix (furosemide). This is easily the single-most divisive medication issue in this industry and one that will not be easily or quickly resolved.

Reasonable people can disagree about whether our work to improve safety and integrity goes far enough or has happened fast enough. These are legitimate questions. Important strides, however, have been made toward improving the health and safety of our human and equine athletes.

Rest assured you will read or hear a lot about what is wrong with our sport over the coming weeks. A less sensational, but more accurate, portrayal is one that acknowledges the strides we have made in the adoption of uniform policies involving safety and integrity matters. Ultimately, our customers will determine whether we are following through on our pledge to reform.

In the meantime, we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of progress.

Alex Waldrop is the president and CEO of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association

A Higher Standard - by Alex Waldrop

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:07:00 GMT

The health and safety of our human and equine athletes, and the integrity of our sport are our highest priorities. These fundamental principles will guide the newly formed National Thoroughbred Racing Association Safety and Integrity Alliance.

The formation of the Alliance is the culmination of several months of feedback received from virtually every segment of the industry, including fans. The reforms fall into five key areas: medication and testing; a safer racing environment; injury reporting and prevention; safety research; and aftercare of our retired racehorses.

Fifty-five tracks and every major horsemen’s association in North America have joined the Alliance. Many owners, breeders, horsemen, and jockeys have expressed their support, and a plan for enlisting added support is in development. Alliance members are aware of the significant financial costs the industry will incur by implementing these reforms. But to their credit, Alliance members have come to the realization that doing nothing would, in the long run, be far more costly.

Despite broad industry support of the Alliance and assurances that reform costs would not be pushed off on our customers in the form of higher takeout, I would speculate that overall fan reaction will range from cautious optimism to a healthy dose of skepticism. Should we be surprised? After all, many of our fans feel like they have seen this movie before.

Nearly six years ago to the day, a group of former students at Drexel University almost pulled off the biggest heist in the history of our sport when they manipulated the wagering data of the Breeders’ Cup Pick Six. The NTRA hired a high-profile individual, along with a talented team of security experts, to assess our industry’s tote system. The result was an outstanding set of recommendations to improve the industry’s tote infrastructure, many of which have yet to be enacted. In fact, six years later, we continue to operate under a fundamentally flawed assumption: that our customers will tolerate the changing of odds well after the horses have broken from the starting gate. In hindsight, we should also have had Mayor Rudolph Giuliani hold our industry’s feet to the fire until we enacted the important reforms his team recommended.

A series of catastrophic injuries in high-profile events, admissions of steroid use by some top trainers, skepticism of bettors after repeat violations of medication policies, and the economy have resulted in double-digit declines in our business in recent months. I am an optimist and one who believes our industry has many good stories to tell relating to integrity. In many respects, our drug testing is better than that of the Olympics. And I believe the overwhelming majority of our horsemen care deeply about the welfare of the horses from which they derive their livelihoods. However, to overcome current negative public perceptions of our game, we must act, and our actions must be meaningful, swift, decisive, and transparent. Those aren’t my words. They are yours—pulled from thousands of interviews we have conducted with our customers.

To this point, the industry response has been encouragingly on the mark. In a short period of time, important reforms have been identified and implemented. The goal of banning steroids from racing competition by 2009 is within reach and demonstrates the industry does have the structure to act uniformly and nationally. The Alliance will lead to further structure and uniformity, and an accreditation process similar to that utilized by other state-regulated industries (think insurance and health care).

What was missing, at least until recently, was sufficient transparency. Enter Tommy Thompson, a former four-term governor in Wisconsin and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Washington, D.C., law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Gov. Thompson, a former Thoroughbred owner, and Akin Gump have been given the task of providing periodic public updates and an annual report card on the industry’s efforts to implement safety and integrity reforms.

The governor’s lone request was that he would have the independence to call it as he sees it. We agreed wholeheartedly and asked that he hold the industry accountable. It is my hope that in the not-too-distant future we will look back to Oct. 15, 2008, as the day the industry began to hold itself to a higher standard. Our customers, our human and equine athletes, and the hundreds of thousands of honest, hard-working individuals who make their living in this sport and industry deserve nothing less.

Alex Waldrop is CEO of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association

All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:01:00 GMT

After viewing a study conducted for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the organization’s senior vice president of communications and industry relations, Keith Chamblin, had this to say: “Our core fans are pissed.”

It is good that Chamblin did not mince words. This is not a time for sugar-coating the state of the Thoroughbred industry.

Oftentimes, organizations, including the NTRA, are accused of spinning the news. Oftentimes, those accusations are well-founded.

But there is no spin in the words, “Our core fans are pissed.”

Performed by SocialSphere Strategies, the study was commissioned by the NTRA. On its Web site, SocialSphere Strategies claims to be “helping Thoroughbred racing go from zero-to-sixty in Web 2.0.”

Since most racetracks and racing organizations had no Web 1.0 vision, SocialSphere Strategies and its founder, John Della Volpe, are talking about a quantum leap for the majority of horse players and racing officials.

From July 2-10, SocialSphere Strategies conducted interviews with about 600 core fans, 180 industry participants, and 1,200 sports fans. The company’s “confidential and proprietary report” led Chamblin to his comments.

“They are very upset with us, and the intensity of their responses is very alarming to say the least,” Chamblin told Tom LaMarra of The Blood-Horse.

SocialSphere Strategies has only recently become involved with Thoroughbred racing, but it has a firm grasp of the situation. Also on its Web site:

• Situation: The “Sport of Kings” has an aging fan base, currently limited appeal to emerging generations, and perceived integrity problems.

• Problem: Limited marketing budget, television availability, and fractured industry segment make wide-scale change difficult.

• Solution: SocialSphere created and executed Web 2.0 strategy for the industry, local racetracks, and other stakeholder groups. Our efforts included a social media audit, a blog strategy, and e-mail marketing optimization, with more to come.

Core fans, those whose handle we depend on, are concerned about drug use in horses and wagering security. Casual fans, thanks to the mainstream press blowing the breakdown of Eight Belles out of proportion, are more concerned with safety issues.

Progress is being seen in the area of medication, with many states now banning the use of most anabolic steroids. The next step should be to address cortisone, which is more harmful in masking pain. Wagering issues continue to plague the industry, with stories of past-posting and the “quick-picks” debacle in California among the latest examples of lapses.

Safety and integrity issues are also being addressed, but it is proving hard to gain a consensus on such controversial and debatable topics as synthetic surfaces, breeding practices, and the care of retired racehorses.

The NTRA has been holding meetings with officials from various organizations and racetracks to address and discuss the issues facing the sport of Thoroughbred racing. On Oct. 15, it will unveil its Safety and Integrity Initiative. NTRA CEO Alex Waldrop said he expects widespread industry support, but support is only the beginning. There is implementation, and most importantly of all, the question of how much things cost and who will foot the bill.

Horse racing has a long and storied history. But it stands at a crossroads. Waldrop says the industry “is going to change.” In fact, it must change.

Waldrop said, “the train leaves the station” Oct. 15. The entire industry better be on board, or we will be left sitting on the platform, wondering where our fans have gone.