The Horsemen's Journal - Spring 2025

HORSEMEN’S

Help Your Fellow Horsemen

Make a Tax Deductible Donation to the National HBPA Foundation

The National HBPA Foundation, a tax-exempt 501 (c)(3) fund, was developed as a safety net for horsemen and horsewomen when other forms of assistance are unavailable or have been exhausted after disaster strikes. Every year the National HBPA Foundation helps horsemen and horsewomen make it through difficult times such as disease quarantines at a racetrack or natural disasters like floods and fires by providing tens of thousands of dollars in needed assistance.

“It was just fabulous. I can’t thank the HBPA enough; I really appreciate all that they do. It’s because of the National HBPA Foundation combined with our insurance and other supporters like Fasig-Tipton’s Blue Horse Charities, we were able to build this kind of barn.”–Old Friends’ Michael Blowen after receiving aid from the National HBPA Foundation following a barn fire.

The National HBPA Foundation extends heartfelt gratitude to the Estate of Bob Reeves for its generous donation. The contribution will make a significant impact on our motto, “Horsemen Helping Horsemen.” Bob Reeves’ legacy of compassion and generosity will continue to assist Horsemen everywhere as we work towards the Foundation’s mission. We appreciate honoring his memory in such a meaningful way. Scan the QR code or visit https://nationalhbpa.com/remembering-bob-reeves/ to read the Winter 2023 The Horsemen’s Journal article remembering Bob Reeves.

To make a tax deductible donation to the National HBPA Foundation and make a difference in the lives of your fellow horsemen and women who may find themselves in need, either:

• Log onto https://nationalhbpa.com/donate/ to make a credit card donation

• Mail a donation check made payable to National HBPA Foundation to: National HBPA Foundation, 3380 Paris Pike, Lexington KY 40511

CONTENTS | SPRING 2025 | VOLUME 72/#1

DEPARTMENTS

FEATURES

22

The Backbone of the Stable Award-winning Turf writer, publicist Jennie Rees continues to advocate for horses and their caregivers 02 Message from the National HBPA

26

Timely Topics

Discussion of HISA and HIWU, workforce-related challenges, medication issues, promotion of the racing product and its participants and aftercare were among the key topics discussed at the annual National HBPA Conference

36

Follow the Science

The overwhelming majority of Thoroughbred racing positive drug tests, also known as adverse analytical findings, are trace identifications of substances that cross over from their use in humans

Day in the Life

New York native Ed Vomacka has carved out a lengthy career on the evolving Ohio racing circuit

‘Franklin County 13’

Lessons can be learned from 13 emaciated horses rescued from a Kentucky farm last December

46

NATIONAL HBPA

3380 Paris Pike

Lexington, KY 40511

P (859) 259-0451

F (859) 259-0452

racing@hbpa.org www.hbpa.org

PRESIDENT/ CHAIRPERSON OF THE BOARD

Dr. Doug Daniels

SECRETARY/ TREASURER

Lynne McNally

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Eric J. Hamelback

VICE PRESIDENT SOUTHERN REGION

Rick Hiles

VICE PRESIDENT CENTRAL REGION

Joe Davis

VICE PRESIDENT WESTERN REGION

J. Lloyd Yother

VICE PRESIDENT EASTERN REGION

Naomi Long

WE ALL MUST DEFEND HORSE RACING’S FUTURE

The first quarter of 2025 has been nothing short of a tsunami for most of us in the industry. We entered the year with hopes of turning the page, making positive strides and setting the industry on the right path. Then came January 7. While the events of that date didn’t bring our industry to a standstill, they certainly caused an unexpected stumble—one that no one saw coming or wanted to face.

Seemingly without warning, industry press announced an agreement between the owner of Gulfstream Park and the Gulfstream horsemen’s association to jointly support legislation allowing Gulfstream to decouple. “Decouple” is a word with multiple meanings, but to horsemen, it tends to be followed by concern—and expletives. The proposed bill in Tallahassee would allow Gulfstream to operate its casino without any obligation to conduct live racing. Ownership claimed this move was necessary to secure financing for improvements to the Gulfstream property. (Pause, smile and cue more expletives. Next, start taking steps to defend the future of racing, not only in Florida but across the country.)

This renewed push to decouple Thoroughbred racing is now underway, and by the time this letter goes to print, the industry’s pushback will be well in motion. But the fight is far from over. The Florida Legislature introduced House Bill 105, filed by Rep. Adam Anderson, which effectively redlined existing statutes requiring Thoroughbred racing facilities to host live races as a condition for operating slot machines and card rooms. Let’s not forget: These gaming operations were not a given; they were made possible only because they were tied to horse racing. The facilities benefiting from gaming revenue rode in on the backs of horsemen and women.

Within hours—also on January 7—I issued a statement making it clear that the National HBPA cannot currently support Gulfstream’s requested legislative changes. The NHBPA—along with its affiliates, including the Tampa Bay HBPA—emphasized that these changes do not appear to offer any meaningful benefits for horsemen. Across the country, horsemen agreed: Decoupling from live racing threatens to cripple horse racing in any state.

If there is one key takeaway from this issue’s letter, it is this: Our industry is not subsidized by gaming. Gaming companies and permit holders pay horsemen a tariff—a tax—for the privilege of having entered states where horse racing already laid the groundwork for legalized wagering. Without the existence of pari-mutuel betting, states would never have allowed these gaming companies to set up shop, whether in brick-and-mortar casinos or, going further back to my younger days, the riverboats of Shreveport.

Every trainer, every farm and every training center is a small business. These businesses collectively drive a multibillion-dollar agricultural sector in the United States. Decoupling must be stopped—not just in Florida but wherever it threatens our industry’s future.

I also want to address a recent opinion piece published in The New York Times. Written by Noah Shachtman, the

piece attempted to couch horse racing in the U.S. as a sport that has outlived its economic usefulness and should simply disappear. My issue with this opinion piece? Like so many before it, it relied on exaggeration, misinformation and a lack of factual evidence to push an anti-racing narrative, so much so that it is hard to even address.

Like everyone I know who read the article, I looked down, shook my head and felt frustrated. We are all tired of seeing our sport mischaracterized in the mainstream media. Fortunately, I believe that hit pieces like this are losing traction. Why? Because they continue to ignore the facts.

You’ve probably heard the old saying, “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” The author of this article certainly didn’t. His criticism focused on the idea that racetracks and purse money are “subsidized” by revenue from slot machines, casinos or historical horse racing machines. Sound familiar? See above. What he conveniently left out was the fundamental fact that these gaming organizations were only allowed to establish themselves because of coupled legislation with horse racing.

Even more glaring was his omission of the economic impact of horse racing—the tens of thousands of jobs it provides, the breeding farms, the training centers and the vast network of agribusinesses and supporting industries that depend on it.

I’ll step off my soapbox before I get too fired up, but this needs to be said: Our industry is not dying. And I am glad the relentless attacks from the media are not resonating the way they used to. From coast to coast, horsemen and women remain deeply committed to this sport.

That said, the New York Times article should serve as a call to action. We must continue to respond—with facts, with passion and with personal testimonies about what racing means to us.

Horse racing is more than a sport; it is a way of life. It is a vital industry with real economic significance for the United States. And it is worth defending and fighting for.

SINCERELY, ERIC J. HAMELBACK

AFFILIATES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS - AFFILIATES

Dr. David Harrington, Alabama

Lloyd Yother, Arizona

Bill Walmsley, Arkansas

James Miller, Charles Town

Kim Oliver, Colorado

Mike Lecesse, Finger Lakes

Jim Watkins, Illinois

Joe Davis, Indiana

David McShane, Iowa

Dale Romans, Kentucky

Benard Chatters, Louisiana

Jason Uelmen, Michigan

Justin Revek, Minnesota

Garald “Wally” Wollesen, Nebraska

Anthony Spadea, New England

Paul Jenson, DVM, New Mexico

Joe Poole, Ohio

Joe Offolter, Oklahoma

Ron Sutton, Oregon

Sandee Martin, Pennsylvania

Mike Dini, Tampa Bay Downs

David Ross, Virginia

Pat LePley, Washington

David Milburn, HBPA of British Columbia

Sue Leslie, HBPA of Ontario

Dan Hurley, HBPA of Alberta

Blaine McLaren, HBPA of Manitoba

Eddie Esquirol, HBPA of Saskatchewan

The opinions, representations and viewpoints expressed by the authors in the articles contained in The Horsemen’s Journal do not necessarily reflect the opinions, representations and viewpoints or the official policies or positions of The Horsemen’s Journal, National Horsemen’s Administration Corporation or National Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association Inc. and its affiliates (collectively “HJ”). HJ is not responsible for, and expressly disclaims all liability for, damages of any kind arising out of use, reference to or reliance on any information contained within this issue. Information in this issue may become outdated due to the rapidly changing nature of the horse industry. The publication of any advertisements or articles should not be construed as an endorsement of any product, service or position unless specifically stated.

The Horsemen’s Journal, Volume 72 #1.

Postal Information: The Horsemen’s Journal (ISSN 0018-5256) is published quarterly by the National Horsemen’s Administration Corporation, with publishing offices at 3380 Paris Pike, Lexington, KY 40511. Copyright 2025 all rights reserved.

The Horsemen’s Journal is the official publication for members of the Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, a representative association of Thoroughbred owners and

CONTRIBUTORS

Dr. Kimberly Brewer

Dr. Clara Fenger

Hannah Hamelback

Kevin Kilroy

Dr. Andreas Lehner

Jennie Rees

Jen Roytz

Dr. Thomas Tobin

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Denis Blake

Coady Photography

Samantha Decker

Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO

John Engelhardt

Alex Foley

Cathy Healy Hodges Photography

Sonny Hughes/Coglianese Photos

Dustin Livesay

Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club

Chris Rahayel/Coglianese Photos

Jennie Rees

Renee Torbit/Coady Photography

Robert Yosay

STAFF

Tom Law

Editor P (859) 396-9407 hj@hbpa.org

Michelle McShane Advertising Director P (515) 508-1811 info@hbpa.org

Limb Design www.limb.co Graphic Design

THE HORSEMEN’S

trainers. HBPA is a non-profit 501(c)6 Kentucky corporation. Members receive The Horsemen’s Journal as a benefit of membership paid by the national office from affiliate dues. Annual nonmember subscriptions are $25. Single-copy back issues, if available, are $7. Canadian subscribers add $6. All other subscriptions outside the U.S. add $20 payable in U.S. funds. To order reprints or subscriptions, call (859) 259-0451.

The HBPA National Board of Directors has determined that the publication of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of the public business required of the association. Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and/or advertisers and do not necessarily represent the opinion or policy of the publisher or HBPA board or staff. Query the editor prior to sending any manuscripts.

Periodicals Postage Paid at Lexington, Kentucky and additional mailing offices. CANADA POST: Publications mail agreement no. 41530527. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: P. O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4R6. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Horsemen’s Journal, 3380 Paris Pike, Lexington, KY 40511.

What is it?

program to protect your assets in case of an injury or damage to property from your equine activities (breeding, racing, sales, training). This is not substitute for workers’ compensation coverage.

What is it?

What Does It Cover?

What is it?

Liability claims arising from injuries to participants (non-employee jockeys and exercise riders)

claims arising from injuries to participants (non-employee jockeys and exercise riders)

A program to protect your assets in case of an injury or damage to property arising from your equine activities (breeding, racing, sales, training). This is not a substitute for workers’ compensation coverage.

program to protect your assets in case of an injury or damage to property from your equine activities (breeding, racing, sales, training). This is not substitute for workers’ compensation coverage.

What Does It Cover?

What Does It Cover?

• Liability claims arising from injuries to participants (non-employee jockeys and exercise riders)

Contractual liability (i.e. hold harmless in Race Track Stall Agreements) Premises and Operations liability coverage for all equine operations including breeding, boarding, training, and racing.

Contractual liability (i.e. hold harmless in Race Track Stall Agreements) Premises and Operations liability coverage for all equine operations including breeding, boarding, training, and racing. How Much Does It Cover?

Liability claims arising from injuries to participants (non-employee jockeys and exercise riders)

• Contractual liability (i.e. hold harmless in Race Track Stall Agreements)

How Much Does It Cover?

• Premises and Operations liability coverage for all equine operations including breeding, boarding, training, and racing.

Contractual liability (i.e. hold harmless in Race Track Stall Agreements)

How Much Does It Cover?

Premises and Operations liability coverage for all equine operations including breeding, boarding, training, and racing.

How Much Does It Cover?

member additional insured has their own $1,000,000 coverage for occurrence or offense and $2,000,000 general aggregate. Damage premises rented to you or occupied by you with the permission owner is provided with a limit of $50,000. Medical payments coverage applies as well in the amount of $5,000 per person.

member additional insured has their own $1,000,000 coverage for occurrence or offense and $2,000,000 general aggregate. Damage premises rented to you or occupied by you with the permission owner is provided with a limit of $50,000. Medical payments coverage applies as well in the amount of $5,000 per person.

member additional insured has their own $1,000,000 coverage for occurrence or offense and $2,000,000 general aggregate. Damage premises rented to you or occupied by you with the permission owner is provided with a limit of $50,000. Medical payments coverage applies as well in the amount of $5,000 per person.

Each member additional insured has their own $1,000,000 coverage for each occurrence or offense and $2,000,000 general aggregate. Damage to premises rented to you or occupied by you with the permission of the owner is provided with a limit of $50,000. Medical payments coverage applies as well in the amount of $5,000 per person.

Cost: $90 Per Horse / $180 Minimum Premium (Beginning May 1st)

SAUDI CROWN LEADS THE FIELD, INCLUDING EVENTUAL WINNER WHITE ABARRIO (4), INTO THE FIRST TURN OF THE $3 MILLION PEGASUS WORLD CUP IN LATE JANUARY AT GULFSTREAM PARK.

DOUBLE UP: THORPEDO ANNA DOMINATES AT ECLIPSE AWARDS

THORPEDO ANNA, WINNER OF THE KENTUCKY OAKS AND FOUR OTHER GRADE 1 STAKES IN 2024, EARNED HORSE OF THE YEAR AND CHAMPION 3-YEAR-OLD FILLY HONORS AT THE 54TH ANNUAL ECLIPSE AWARDS IN JANUARY AT THE BREAKERS PALM BEACH IN FLORIDA.

Chad Brown didn’t mince words last fall when asked whether the filly Thorpedo Anna would garner significant support for Horse of the Year in 2024.

“She should,” Brown said minutes after he saddled Sierra Leone to victory in the $7 million, Grade 1 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar. Sierra Leone could have staked his own case for racing’s top honor, with another Grade 1 win, a Grade 2 victory and three Grade 1 placings last season. “If she were to get it, there would be no argument from me personally.”

Thorpedo Anna’s case wound up stronger in the eyes and hearts of the voters, and the filly came away from the 54th annual Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards ceremony at The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida with a resounding win in the race for Horse of the Year and a unanimous selection as champion 3-yearold filly.

“It’s been a fantastic ride, and it’s only started; she’s going to keep running,” said Thorpedo Anna’s trainer Kenny McPeek, who lost out to Brown for the Eclipse Award as outstanding trainer in a tight vote.

Thorpedo Anna’s Horse of the Year coronation was anything but close. She earned 193 of a possible 208 votes, while Sierra Leone received 10 and Travers Stakes winner and 2023 champion 2-year-old male Fierceness received five. Thorpedo Anna, the winner of five Grade 1s and $3,653,050 in 2024,

earned all 208 votes in the 3-year-old filly category.

Owned by Brookdale Racing Inc., Mark Edwards, Sherri McPeek’s Magdalena Racing and her breeder, Judy Hicks, Thorpedo Anna joined Rachel Alexandra as the lone 3-year-old fillies to earn Horse of the Year honors.

“To say that we are not honored is a gross misunderstanding,” said Hicks, who bred the Fast Anna filly out of the Uncle Mo mare Sataves. “It’s the culmination of so many things. You have to have a stallion; you have to have a mare. You hope you get your mare to the breeding shed before May. You get this mare in foal. You foal this foal out in the middle of the night in the ice storms. … Last but not least, Kenny McPeek, for his unseen keen eye of seeing her untappable talent. … And to her fan base, who followed her from coast to coast to coast, we are privileged to have the Horse of the Year, Thorpedo Anna.”

The voting is conducted by the Eclipse Awards’ three presenters— the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, Daily Racing Form and National Thoroughbred Racing Association.

Godolphin, the global racing and breeding operation run by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai, took home its fifth straight and eighth overall outstanding owner crown and fourth consecutive and fifth overall outstanding breeder title. Godolphin also celebrated winning the 2-year-old filly championship with undefeated three-time Grade 1 winner Immersive and champion turf male with Rebel’s Romance, a winner on three continents in 2024. Rebel’s Romance won the tightest race of the equine divisions, earning 89 votes to 81 for Johannes.

Sierra Leone came away with the 3-year-old male title despite missing out on Horse of the Year. The son of Gun Runner, a $2.3 million sale topper out of the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale, earned 169 votes to 34 for Fierceness.

Brown won the closest race in the human categories, earning 101 votes to edge McPeek with 88. Also earning votes for outstanding trainer were Eclipse Award-winning trainers Brad Cox (nine votes), Steve Asmussen (eight) and Bob Baffert (one). Brown topped the North American earnings list for the sixth time since 2016, racking up $30,931,210 in purses, on the way to his fifth Eclipse Award and first since 2019.

Flavien Prat, who rode Sierra Leone to victory in the Classic, earned his first Eclipse Award as outstanding jockey in a runaway. He set records for most graded stakes wins (56) and most stakes wins (82) in 2024, along with topping

the earnings list with more than $37 million in purses. Prat earned 202 of the 208 total votes.

Erik Asmussen joined his Hall of Fame father Steve Asmussen and uncle Cash Asmussen as an Eclipse Award winner. The 22-year-old won the outstanding apprentice jockey award, earning 168 votes to outpace nearest competitors J.G. Torrealba (15), Gabriel Moldonado (eight) and Sofia Vives (eight).

Baffert and Cox enjoyed big seasons in 2024 and another strong showing with two champions apiece at the Eclipse Awards.

Baffert trained Citizen Bull, winner of the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, to the 2-year-old male title and National Treasure to the older dirt male crown. Cox trained Juddmonte’s Idiomatic to her second straight older dirt female championship, along with champion 2-year-old filly Immersive.

Canadian-bred Moira, who sold last November for $4.3 million at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall mixed sale, earned the champion turf female title after a season highlighted by her victory in the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

Two other Breeders’ Cup winners captured Eclipse Awards in the sprint divisions—Soul of an Angel, who won the PNC Bank Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, for female sprinter and Straight No Chaser, who won the Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint, for male sprint champion. Bruton Street US’s Snap Decision won champion steeplechase horse. The now 11-year-old gelding won two

Grade 1 races in 2024—the Calvin Houghland Iroquois Stakes at Percy Warner Park in Tennessee and the American Grand National at Far Hills in New Jersey.

Others recognized at the Eclipse Awards included Taylor Made Farm’s Frank Taylor and the Stable Recovery Program with a Special Eclipse Award.

Media Eclipse Awards were given in the categories of photography, multimedia, news/enterprise writing, feature/commentary writing, feature television programming and live television programming. The 2024 Media Eclipse Award winners, determined by a judges’ panel for each category and previously announced, were news/enterprise writing, Sean Clancy, The Saratoga Special; feature/commentary writing, Chris McGrath, Thoroughbred Daily News; photography, Scott Serio, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred; multimedia, Sue Finley, Thoroughbred Daily News; live television programming, NBC Sports (Lindsay Schanzer, senior producer); and feature television programming, NBC Sports (Rachel Goodman, producer).

Mike Gillum, winner of the 25th National Horseplayers Championship, was presented with an Eclipse Award as the 2024 Horseplayer of the Year.

The connections of Preakness Stakes winner Seize the Grey were honored as the winners of the FanDuel Racing-NTRA Moment of the Year, as voted on by fans.

Tom Law

We assist in the immigration visa process for:

RACING MOURNS LOSSES OF ICONS BASSETT, BOWEN

North American racing lost two legends in less than a week’s time in January with the passing of James E. “Ted” Bassett III and Edward L. Bowen.

Bassett, who led Keeneland through historic expansion and established its position internationally as a premier racetrack and auction house during his 38year tenure serving as president, chairman and trustee, died January 23 at the age of 103 at his home in Lexington, Kentucky. Bowen, a racing journalist and historian for more than 60 years and former editor of The Blood-Horse, passed away January 20 at the age of 82 at his home in Versailles, Kentucky.

“Mr. Bassett was a cherished member of the Keeneland family, and while we are saddened by his passing, we celebrate his remarkable life and indomitable spirit,” Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin said. “He was the embodiment of class and integrity, and his commitment to preserving Keeneland’s mission and brand, often during challenging times in history, enabled our racing and sales operations to soar to new heights and set the standard for the industry.

“Mr. Bassett was a giant internationally as a leader, visionary, philanthropist, beloved icon and friend and one of our sport’s greatest ambassadors,” Arvin continued. “Though I have no doubt he would want most to be remembered as a humble man who worked every day to enhance Keeneland, the Thoroughbred industry and his hometown of Lexington.”

Bassett joined Keeneland in 1968 as an assistant to then-president Louis Lee Haggin II. He began his 16-year tenure as president of Keeneland Association in 1970. Bassett became chairman of the Keeneland board of directors in 1986, a trustee in 2001 and a trustee emeritus in 2006.

Bassett, who had no prior experience in the Thoroughbred industry, credited his Marine background for giving him the perseverance and resourcefulness to succeed at the helm of one of the industry’s foremost players on the global stage. He received the Eclipse Award of Merit in 1996 in recognition of his lifelong service to the Thoroughbred industry and the Lord

Derby Award from the Horserace Writers and Photographers Association in England in 1998. In 2019, Bassett was selected for induction into the Racing Hall of Fame as a group recognized as Pillars of the Turf.

Bowen, a native of West Virginia who grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, became fascinated with horses reading the Black Stallion books as a child. He started in journalism during summer breaks at the University of Florida at the Sun-Sentinel newspaper and later worked at Ocala Stud and as a hotwalker and groom at Monmouth Park. He landed a writing job at The Blood-Horse in 1963, moved to Kentucky and transferred to the University of Kentucky.

Bowen’s racing journalism career included stints editing the Canadian Horse, and he served as managing editor and editor-in-chief at The Blood-Horse He left the magazine after five years as editor-in-chief to serve as president of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. Bowen spent 24 years with Grayson, helping raise money and awareness. The foundation funded $22 million for research projects that benefited all horses. Bowen also authored 22 racing books and contributed articles for numerous publications.

A respected historian, Bowen headed the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame Nominating Committee and served as a museum trustee. Bowen wrote the introduction to the Eclipse Awards ceremony for 53 years, including for the 2024 version held just days after his passing.

The presenters of the Eclipse Awards dedicated the January 23 ceremony in honor of Bowen.

“For more than half a century, Ed Bowen’s words described the most memorable moments of the sport as captured each year during the Eclipse Awards,” said Tom Rooney, president and CEO of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. “His list of accomplishments includes an Eclipse Award for magazine writing in 1972, thousands of articles and nearly two dozen books on Thoroughbred breeding and racing. Before the internet, Wikipedia and artificial intelligence, there was Ed Bowen.”

TED BASSETT

ED BOWEN

GRAYSON-JOCKEY CLUB NAMES LAVIN, RUSSELL TO TOP POSTS

The Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation announced several appointments in late January, including Kevin Lavin as its next chair and Geoffrey Russell as vice chair. Lavin, who replaced Dell Hancock, had served as vice chair. Mandy Pope also has been elected to the board of directors, and former directors Donald Dizney and John Oxley have been awarded the position of director emeritus.

A native of Louisville, Lavin grew up on Longfield Farm and is the fourth generation of his family to be involved in the horse industry. Lavin’s grandfather was a longtime racing official and racing secretary, his mother served two terms on the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority, and his father was a racetrack veterinarian, past president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, vice chair of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and member of The Jockey Club.

Lavin is a partner in Sterling Thompson Company and is the senior equine risk advisor. He founded Lavin Insurance Services in 1997. Lavin has served on the Grayson board since 2010, along with positions on other boards including the Thoroughbred Club of America, Kentucky Derby Museum, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and Backside Learning Center.

Russell served as vice president of appraisals and director of sales administration at Fasig-Tipton Co. and as assistant director of sales and director of sales at the Keeneland Association. He twice served as chair of the Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers and represented Keeneland on the North American International Cataloguing Standards Committee.

Grayson traditionally serves as the nation’s leading source of private funding for equine medical research that benefits all breeds of horses. Since 1940, Grayson has provided more than $42 million to underwrite more than 437 projects at 48 universities.

DONATION BOOSTS THOROUGHBRED MAKEOVER PRIZE MONEY

The prize money for the 2025 Retired Racehorse Project (RRP) Thoroughbred Makeover received a significant boost from a $25,000 donation by James and Shari Ough. The additional prize money will offer payouts through 10th place for the new championship format that debuts this year, which will welcome back the top 10 highest-placed horses in the Retiring Racehorse division for a championship round of competition. The Oughs’ gift brings the guaranteed base prize money for the Thoroughbred Makeover to $139,000.

The Oughs, through their family trust and other sources, make philanthropic commitments toward Thoroughbred aftercare, assistance for disabled jockeys and backstretch workers’ health and welfare. James is an entrepreneur, sports information publisher, former sports broadcaster and lifelong fan of the Thoroughbred on and off the track. Shari owns, races and breeds Thoroughbreds in North America.

“We are so very excited to support the Retired Racehorse Project in its efforts to drive demand for retired racehorses,” James Ough said. “Helping to incentivize participation in the Thoroughbred Makeover is an obvious choice, and we look forward to [the event in] October.”

Other opportunities exist at the 2025 event for participating trainers to recoup some of the expenses of participating in the competition. The ASPCA Right Horse Scholarship will offer reimbursement of stabling and first discipline fees for up to 50 eligible horses adopted from Right Horse partner organizations at a total value of $20,250. The RRP has confirmed the return of the Make the Makeover fundraising campaign, through which trainers can earn back their registration fees; more than $9,000 in registration fees were refunded to trainers who met their fundraising goals in 2024. The organization anticipates the renewal of an estimated $30,000 in special awards, and several past connections and aftercare organizations, including adoption groups and businesses, are offering direct incentives for their former horses that are pursuing the Thoroughbred Makeover.

“Bringing a horse through the aftercare phase and into its next career is a significant investment, and without demand from capable riders, the whole aftercare ecosystem will stall out,” RRP Executive Director Kirsten Green said. “Our staff has been working diligently to secure a variety of opportunities to offset costs for the trainers participating in this process, and we’re deeply grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Ough for their commitment to this effort.”

The 2025 Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America, will be held October 8-11 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.

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Board of Directors

Sue Leslie · Danny Vella · Josie Carroll · Sherry McLean

Kevin Attard · Veronica Attard · Roger Attfield

Josie De Paulo · Don MacRae

VETERAN PHOTOGRAPHER HODGES SET FOR RETIREMENT

Track photographer Lou Hodges Jr., a mainstay at Fair Grounds for most of his life and named to the New Orleans track’s Press Box Hall of Fame in 2014, announced his retirement in early February.

Beginning in 1948 when Lou Hodges Sr. became the assistant to Jack Blythe, a member of the Hodges family has served as Fair Grounds’ in-house photographer for 76 years. Hodges Jr. joined his father in 1976 and took over the business in 1978. That tradition will continue as Hodges Jr., 76, passes the baton to his daughter Amanda Hodges Weir.

“Fair Grounds has been lucky to have Lou Hodges,” Senior Director of Racing Jason Boulet said. “Our racetrack, our horses and our horsemen have come to life through the fantastic photos he has taken. We are very grateful for everything he and his family have given us, and we are fortunate to have his highly respected daughter Amanda take over. Although Lou is retiring, his photos will always be here to tell Fair Grounds’ story.”

A New Orleans native, Hodges Jr. grew up coming to Fair Grounds with his father.

“He would go out early in the mornings to deliver pictures to the trainers,” Hodges Jr. said. “So I would go with him through the barn area, and that’s where I learned a lot about his relationship to the horsemen. He would walk into the barn to deliver pictures, and everybody would always get excited. It was really something. He had a lot of friends on the racetrack. People really respected him.”

Hodges Jr. and his father became the first father-son inductees to the Fair Grounds Hall of Fame.

“My father felt that it was very important to treat everybody with respect,” Hodges Jr. said. “He’d say, ‘You’re going to do business with people who are Vanderbilts. And you’re going to do business with people who are grooms and hotwalkers. But when they come into the office, you treat everybody like they’re a Vanderbilt.’ ”

Hodges Jr. also served as a track photographer at Rockingham Park, Washington Park, Arlington Park and Louisiana Downs during his career.

A love of racing runs deep in the Hodges family, and Amanda joined the operation in 2015.

“Amanda’s undergraduate degree from Ole Miss is in art education,” Hodges Jr. said. “She came along with different ways of looking at things. Her computer skills with Photoshop are outstanding. I was very fortunate that she decided to come into the business; it made life a lot easier.”

In addition to continuing as the official photographer at Fair Grounds, Hodges Photography has the track photography contract at Delta Downs and Evangeline Downs.

“I learned from my father to always be creative—never stop learning, never stop trying to find a different way to do things,” Amanda said. “Even still, he’ll say, ‘I want to walk the infield. I have some ideas for a new shot.’ And he’ll come up with a new angle we haven’t done.”

Fair Grounds celebrated Hodges Jr.’s retirement after the fourth race on its February 2 card.

Kevin Kilroy HJ

LOU HODGES JR., A FIXTURE AT FAIR

SPIKEZONE EARNS CLAIMING HORSE OF THE YEAR TITLE

Spikezone, who overcame a second round of knee surgery to go 11-for-14 as a 5-year-old, has been named by the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association as the National Claiming Horse of the Year for 2024. The gelding’s 11 wins trailed only Tennessee Moon’s 13 for the most North American victories.

The National HBPA presents the award to shine the spotlight on horses that are exceptional at their level of competition, with claiming horses comprising the largest segment of racing across America. Spikezone and his connections were honored February 25 at the National HBPA awards luncheon during the organization’s annual conference in Safety Harbor, Florida.

“We’re thrilled for him,” said Mid-Atlantic-based trainer Jamie Ness, whose Jagger Inc. stable owns Spikezone with Troy Johnson and Charles Lo. “He deserves it.”

“I am so shocked,” Lo said. “It just doesn’t happen the way it has—maybe one time out of 100. It’s crazy. I never had a horse that good.”

“It’s a dream, unreal,” Johnson said.

Spikezone concluded 2024 with six straight victories capped by his stakes debut in Parx Racing’s $75,000 Let’s Give Thanks Stakes November 27. The Florida-bred gelding became eligible for Claiming Horse of the Year by competing for a $100,000 claiming price March 23 at Tampa Bay Downs. That was one of his trio of thirds on the season.

“Spikezone is a terrific example of how horses can just get better with age, patience and horsemanship,” said Todd Mostoller, chair of the National HBPA’s awards committee. “At 11-for-14, Spikezone also shows that horses can come back from multiple surgeries and still be excellent and admirable racehorses at their level.”

“This award highlights the importance of our claiming horses to American horse racing and how much enjoyment they bring to their team,” said National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback. “We congratulate Troy and Charles and certainly Jamie for having so much success with Spikezone after career-compromising surgeries. And, of course, the biggest applause goes to Spikezone.”

Johnson and Lo said they raced claimers around Northern California’s Bay Area, where they live. In a move designed to increase their success, Johnson cold-called Ness about being their trainer. Spikezone was one of their first purchases, Lo said.

A son of the late Speightster, Spikezone sold twice as a yearling at Ocala Breeders’ Sales auctions in Florida, first for $2,500 and later to Ness for $19,000. Ness, Johnson and Lo have campaigned Spikezone in 24 of his 25 races while racing in Tampa during the winter and the Mid-Atlantic the remainder of the year.

“He’s the ultimate warrior horse,” Ness said. “When he was a 2-year-old, he was out-working older horses. He was really good. Then right before I debuted him, I came to the barn and he had some heat [in a knee]. He had a small chip, so I took it out. … We have to always be cognizant of it, so we don’t train hard. We kind of have his number. We keep him happy.”

When Spikezone made it to the races in June of his 3-year-old season, Ness correctly gambled that no one would take him out of the $25,000 maidenclaiming race, which made him eligible for certain starter-allowance races.

Spikezone won three of his first seven starts before being claimed for $50,000 that November at Parx. Ness, Johnson and Lo claimed him back in his next race for $40,000, with one of his four original owners bowing out.

SPIKEZONE, SELECTED AS THE NATIONAL HORSEMEN’S BENEVOLENT AND PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION 2024 NATIONAL CLAIMING HORSE OF THE YEAR, RATTLES OFF HIS 11TH VICTORY OF THE SEASON IN THE LET’S GIVE THANKS STAKES NOVEMBER 27 AT PARX RACING.

“Jamie said, ‘I think we should claim him back. We’ve just got to manage him and manage his races,’” Johnson said. “I said, ‘All right, let’s do it.’ It was the best thing we ever did. Now he’s made over $400,000. And he’s only getting better. He’s getting older and stronger. He’s in his prime right now. Jamie and his team have done great with him.”

That “best thing” only came after another major setback. Spikezone raced once after being reunited with his original barn and then was off 10 months for arthroscopic surgery on both knees. After returning November 17, 2023, with a ninth in allowance company at Laurel Park, he followed up with a close second on December 16 at Tampa. Spikezone then embarked on a near-flawless 2024, earning $378,082 of his $481,422 career bankroll. His career record stood at 14-3-5 in 25 starts at the end of the year.

The gelding has led at every point of call in all 14 of his career victories. In every 2024 start he earned a Brisnet speed rating of at least 93, including five in triple digits, topped at 105 twice.

—Jennie Rees

SPIKEZONE SHOWED PROMISE FROM THE START, AND TRAINER AND CO-OWNER JAMIE NESS CALLS HIM “THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR HORSE” AFTER AN 11-FOR-14 SEASON WITH EARNINGS OF $378,082 PAVING THE WAY TO THE NATIONAL HBPA CLAIMING HORSE OF THE YEAR TITLE.

SEND US YOUR OTTB PHOTOS, VIDEOS

The National HBPA is embarking on a social media campaign asking affiliates, their members and the public to provide digital photos or videos of former racehorses enjoying second careers. The photos and videos can be emailed to tracksidejennie@gmail.com, along with the horse’s name (both showing and racing, if different), its second career and current location. Any other details about the horse, including post-racing accomplishments, are appreciated but optional.

The photos and information will be posted on the National HBPA’s X account and Facebook page by communications specialist Jennie Rees. Photos of the horses in their racetrack life also are encouraged for submission.

“The genesis of this project stems from our HBPA conference, when Kentucky HBPA President Dale Romans showed Arkansas HBPA Executive Director Jeanette Milligan photos of his Preakness runner-up Cherry Wine as a show jumper,” said National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback. “Jeanette began talking about the success of Arkansas’ aftercare program in putting Oaklawn Park-raced horses on a path to second careers.

“This is something all our affiliates and their members can participate in,” Hamelback continued. “We’ll use the photos and videos on our social channels to promote aftercare and our affiliates while showing the public how the industry looks after our retired racehorses.”

Off-the-track Thoroughbreds can come from any level of racing, from claiming to stakes, or even be unraced. Their second career doesn’t have to involve the show ring or other competitions. They could work as a stable pony, do trail riding, perform search and rescue, serve with the mounted police or be a gelding keeping watch over a field of mares.

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HORCERY JOINS NATIONAL HBPA AS CORPORATE SPONSOR

The National HBPA announced that Horcery has become a corporate sponsor of North America’s largest horsemen’s association.

Horcery is revolutionizing equine care with state-of-the-art technology designed exclusively for horsemen, enhancing the safety, health and management of racehorses like never before. A subsidiary of Tavistock Group, Horcery combines cutting-edge artificial intelligence with deep industry expertise to develop solutions tailored to the needs of trainers, owners and equine professionals.

Horcery’s flagship product, the AI Stall Monitor, is a game-changer in stable management, offering continuous real-time surveillance, detecting early signs of distress or illness and providing invaluable documentation to protect trainers and owners from false claims. With its unparalleled ability to monitor stable conditions and horse behavior, the AI Stall Monitor is setting a new standard in equine welfare and risk management.

The research and development behind Horcery’s technology has been conducted over several years in collaboration with leading individuals and organizations within the horse racing industry. These experts have helped identify the most pressing needs for horsemen and horses, particularly in light of the industry’s evolving climate of surveillance and security. With increased government oversight of the sport, Horcery’s AI Stall Monitor is designed to meet these challenges head-on, providing the necessary tools to enhance compliance, integrity and accountability.

“We are excited to welcome Horcery AI Powered Stall Monitoring as a corporate sponsor for the National HBPA starting in 2025,” said Eric Hamelback,

CEO of the National HBPA. “Their innovative technology is becoming a necessity for today’s stabling at racetracks across the United States. This new camera enhances equine safety and welfare, which aligns perfectly with our mission to support horsemen and ensure the highest standards of care. We look forward to this partnership and the positive impact they could bring to our industry.”

“At Horcery, we are dedicated to developing technology that directly benefits the horsemen and the horses they care for,” said Matti Hiob, CEO of Horcery. “The AI Stall Monitor was created exclusively for this industry; there’s nothing else like it. Partnering with the National HBPA allows us to expand our mission of improving equine welfare, stable security and operational efficiency. We are proud to align with an organization that shares our commitment to integrity and innovation in horse racing.”

For more information about Horcery, visit horcery.com. Sales inquiries can be directed to Jeff DeAngelis at Jeff.deangelis@horcery.com, and media inquiries should be sent to Tara Cochran at tara@allabouttherace.com.

FLAIR JOINS NATIONAL HBPA AS CORPORATE SPONSOR

The National HBPA has announced that FLAIR Equine Nasal Strips has become a corporate sponsor of North America’s largest horsemen’s association.

Twenty-five years ago, the idea of FLAIR Equine Nasal Strips was based on an initial “what if” premise: Can a nasal strip, like the product developed for humans, also benefit a horse? The patented product spawned a scientific study, led to a new understanding of equine respiratory anatomy and physiology and changed how veterinary textbooks were written.

Achieve Equine LLC, as parent company of the FLAIR brand, manufactures and distributes FLAIR Equine Nasal Strips and is passionate about creating products that benefit the health and performance of horses. The dedication to equine welfare drives Achieve Equine to innovate continually, ensuring that its solutions are both scientifically validated and practically beneficial. Its commitment extends beyond mere product development; it encompasses a genuine care for the well-being of horses, which is reflected in its ongoing research, customer support and corporate sponsorships.

“The National HBPA is honored to welcome FLAIR as a new corporate sponsor for 2025, which reinforces our commitment to equine health and welfare,” said Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National HBPA. “FLAIR provides trainers with a proven noninvasive tool to support optimal respiratory function, helping racehorses perform at their best while prioritizing their well-being. Partnering with FLAIR

Equine Nasal Strips aligns with our mission to equip horsemen with innovative solutions that put the racehorse first.”

Top equine veterinary experts agree that only two treatments have been scientifically proven to reduce exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage: FLAIR Equine Nasal Strips and furosemide (Lasix).

Achieve Equine’s continuous innovation and the National HBPA’s efforts to provide resources and protection for the racing community create a synergistic relationship that enhances the overall landscape of Thoroughbred racing.

“Our mutual support of equine welfare initiatives underscores a shared vision of a future where horses continue to receive the best care possible, driven by passion, innovation and a profound respect for the animals and the people who care for them,” said Jim Chiapetta, DVM, CEO of Achieve Equine.

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NATIONAL HBPA’S CORPORATE PARTNER GROUP GOING STRONG IN 2025

The National HBPA is proud to announce that nine valued corporate partners have renewed their relationships with North America’s largest horsemen’s association. They join new corporate partners Horcery, Flair, and Horse Racing Radio Network for 2025.

“The support of our corporate partners is more important than ever,

and we truly appreciate each and every one of them,” said Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National HBPA. “By partnering with the National HBPA, these companies have made a statement about how important horsemen are to them, so I ask all our members to make that same statement and patronize our corporate partners whenever possible.” HJ

FOLLOWING IS AN OVERVIEW OF THE NINE CORPORATE PARTNERS THAT RENEWED FOR 2025.

CHRIMS-PGSI provides a variety of technology and software solutions for the pari-mutuel and gaming industries, including pari-mutuel settlements and host fees, a runners database using Equibase data and a full range of accounting, auditing and consulting services. Based in California, CHRIMS-PGSI has a client list that includes racetracks and regulatory agencies around the country as well as in Mexico and Europe. For more information, go to portal.chrims.com.

Daily Racing Form, “America’s Turf Authority since 1894” for Thoroughbred racing horseplayers and professionals, is the industry’s dominant multichannel media company. Daily Racing Form is the only daily newspaper in the United States dedicated solely to the coverage of a single sport. Its companion website, drf.com, is the most heavily trafficked online horse racing destination, providing players with extensive racing news coverage, interactive past performances, exclusive handicapping tools and access to the online and mobile wagering platform DRF Bets. For more information, go to drf.com.

Equine Equipment helps members of the horse industry get discounts on farm equipment, mowers and more through a marketing partnership with Tenda Horse Products. Tenda is approaching five decades of serving the performance horse industry with products that promote and improve the overall health, soundness, performance and well-being of equine athletes. Visit tendahorse.com or call (888) 836-3213 for more information. Equine Equipment also can help horsemen save up to 26% off MSRP on equipment from Toro and Exmark, along with discounts on FarmPaint. Find out more at equineequipment.com or by calling (877) 905-0004.

Finish Line Horse Products Inc. manufactures products for racing and other performance horses and strives to provide the right products at the right price. The company offers a free hotline for customers to ask trained staff about Finish Line products or general equine-related questions. Although Finish Line has grown to serve many other equine disciplines over the years, Thoroughbred racing was the first and is still a core business for the company. For more information, visit finishlinehorse.com. Horseman Labor Solutions provides immigration services to the industry and assists trainers in maintaining their staff of skilled guest workers. Whether it is a 10-month temporary visa for a skilled groom or hotwalker or a five-year visa for exercise riders and jockeys, Horseman Labor Solutions and its immigration services are considered second to none by many horsemen. For more information, call (800) 678-RACE (7223).

Horsemen’s Track and Equipment has served as the industry leader in racetrack design, installation and renovation for more than 35 years. Its proprietary Rider Protection Rail System is installed at many of the pari-mutuel tracks across the country. In addition, the company offers an extensive selection of equipment for track maintenance, from conditioners and harrows to water trucks and an advanced equine ambulance. For more information, go to horsemenstrack.com.

Sports Information Services (SIS) has been a horse racing content supplier to the global betting industry for more than 30 years, distributing racing product to sportsbooks (fixed odds) and pari-mutuel operators. From two United Kingdom-based production and operation centers, SIS produces 24/7 live racing video channels, racing data and betting prices in a standardized format to a network of more than 400 betting operators in 50 countries. For more information, go to sis.tv.

Sterling Thompson Equine administers the National HBPA-endorsed Owners’ and Trainers’ Liability Program, which provides coverage for assets in cases of injury or property damage as the result of equine activities such as racing, sales, training and breeding. The policy covers liability claims, contractual liability and premises and operations liability at an affordable cost to horsemen. The policy includes up to $1 million in coverage for each occurrence and $2 million general aggregate. For more information, visit sterlingthompson.com/farmequine or call (502) 585-3277.

Twinspires.com, owned and operated by Churchill Downs Inc., is the premier online horse racing wagering platform in the U.S. and the official online betting partner of the Kentucky Derby. Players can wager through the TwinSpires desktop, mobile and app-based advance deposit wagering platforms as well as at retail locations and racetracks across the country.

Over a recent two-month span, trainers, owners, breeders and other horsemen downloaded more than 200,000 sets of DRF past performances

The Backbone of the Stable

By

AWARD-WINNING TURF WRITER, PUBLICIST JENNIE REES CONTINUES TO ADVOCATE FOR HORSES AND THEIR CAREGIVERS

Precarious Man fit the popular Thoroughbred look: dark bay, with a black mane and tail, a chiseled head on a long neck and a lean body with deep, muscular shoulders. On the morning of February 3, 1988, Precarious Man was on a 0-for-19 losing streak. He was a come-from-behind sprinter, usually an underdog who needed a lot of hope to make an impact on the track. Race after race, there was a sliver of hope that just maybe he would pull ahead to be first across the finish line. But more often than not, he’d finish a distant fourth or fifth. Despite trainers trying different tactics, like running him at longer distances, he never quite made the leap.

Pat Dupuy had privately bought Precarious Man four months and five races before that February morning and sent the horse to his father, trainer John Dupuy. Precarious Man was stabled in New Orleans and raced at Fair Grounds and Jefferson Downs, a small and long since shuttered track in Kenner, Louisiana. Pat also had recently become engaged to an up-and-coming horse racing journalist, Jennie Rees. Rees was still learning the ins and outs of the racing industry, but after she and Pat started dating, she gained a new perspective on the industry that standard journalistic reporting could not provide.

Rees had traveled to New Orleans to support Dupuy and Precarious Man in one of the cheapest claiming races on the card that warm February afternoon at Fair Grounds. It was an ordinary race day, and although the sliver of hope still shined, Precarious Man’s losing skid lingered in everyone’s mind. As he and his opponents reached the starting gate, Rees longed for the 5-1 odds to prevail.

The bell echoed throughout the track, and the horses were off.

Rees watched from the stands with growing anticipation. Precarious Man started the race like normal, his pace consistent with his previous 19 losses. Just as his supporters began to accept another defeat, he seemed to launch into overdrive. Precarious Man rounded the corner for the final stretch, and in the blink of an eye, the gap between him and the leaders started to close.

Rees watched as if time slowed down.

“Could this really be the day?” she thought.

Precarious Man finally pulled ahead to win, providing a moment of pure joy for Rees. After so many near-wins, the underdog did, in fact, prevail. The track held a small trophy presentation afterward, nothing fancy, just a humble token of the victory. But to Rees, that trophy was worth more than any other. It was an unexpected triumph, one she cherishes to this day, and a moment she credits as a top-three memory.

“How could you not be hooked after something like that?” she said, years later.

Rees grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, otherwise known as the “Horse Capital of the World.” She never took an interest in racing, even though it surrounded her. Her passion was rooted in sports, her talent distinguished in writing, and her dream was to report on college athletics for a major newspaper in the Big Ten or SEC country. The closest encounter Rees had to racing as a child was a spontaneous trip to Keeneland Race Course on spring break with her mother and sister to watch the horses train. The transformative moment came as a Tates Creek High School senior when her best friend, Mona Rozovich, with access to a car, said, “Let’s go to Keeneland for the races.”

The spring meeting was bustling with excitement, yet Rees entered a foreign world. The track was alive with color and sound—the manicured grass a deep emerald, the dirt track freshly combed by John Deere tractors and the faint murmur of the crowd building into a roar throughout the race. Rees watched in awe as she felt the pounding hooves reverberating in her chest.

As the day came to a close and the horses returned to their barns, the moment lingered before fading; Rees didn’t know the names of the horses, who the jockeys, trainers or owners were or what the racing odds even meant. She simply knew this would be a core memory. However brief, that glimpse into the world of Thoroughbred racing foreshadowed her future.

Rees pursued her dream of sports journalism at Indiana University. After graduation, she secured a post-grad internship in the sports department of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Her first racing story proved memorable, albeit for an embarrassing reason. She was assigned to cover a stakes race at Cincinnati’s River Downs on a steamy July 4th. Not even knowing what a stakes race was,

Hannah Hamelback

Photos by John Engelhardt

she relied on the late Pat Lang, then the track’s publicity director, who helpfully directed Rees to the person she needed to interview. That trainer talked about the winner having been a “rogue horse” and mentioned they’d almost resorted to “cutting” him. Rees froze, alarmed, and thought they meant putting the horse down. Once she became a full-time Turf writer, Rees soon learned that cutting a horse meant castration. Several years later, in the middle of the night, the memory of her first race story flashed back for some reason.

“I thought, ‘What did I write?’ I’m pretty sure it was that the horse came close to being killed,” she said.

She laughed at herself, shaking her head.

“I’ve come a long way since then,” she said.

After two years in Rochester, New York, Rees returned to Kentucky in 1981 to work in the sports department of the Louisville Courier-Journal, still intent on being a major college beat writer. Two years later, she landed the part-time horse racing beat in addition to covering Division II basketball and tennis while simultaneously working the sports copy desk. When the afternoon Louisville Times merged with the Courier-Journal in 1986, Rees became the first full-time Turf writer in the long history of the Louisville newspapers. By then, she was hooked, and the thought of covering any other sport evaporated.

Earning Their Trust

Racing is a vital industry that not only sustains the livelihoods of many but also plays a significant role in the broader entertainment world. Any sector of the entertainment industry—whether sports, film or music—is subject to both criticism and regulation. In the case of horse racing, much of the criticism often comes from those outside the industry. The lack of understanding of the complexities of the sport and the dedication required to be a horseman or horsewoman can lead to misinformed judgments.

Horse racing is often referred to as “the Sport of Kings,” given the sport’s historical association with royalty. To an outsider, racing might seem like a sport for the rich, with millions of dollars exchanged at every race. But racing doesn’t survive on wealth alone. It thrives because of the horsemen and women—the trainers, barn staff, veterinarians, jockeys, farriers and others who dedicate their lives to the horses’ well-being and keep the industry moving. These people aren’t motivated by money or politics; they are motivated by their passion for the horse. For every racehorse, there are at least 26 employees connected to the security of the horse.

Rees has worked tirelessly to give a voice to those unsung heroes, publishing their stories across platforms to educate and inform the public about the reality of being a horseman or horsewoman.

However, it wasn’t until she met her husband, now-retired trainer Pat Dupuy, in 1985 that she began to truly see the sport from an insider’s vantage point.

Rees was at Churchill Downs writing a story for the Courier-Journal when a groom approached her with a compliment on her ballcap for the Red Mile, Lexington’s Standardbred track. Rees casually offered to pick up a few the next time she was in Lexington and bring them back for anyone who wanted one.

A few weeks later, Rees returned with Red Mile ballcaps in hand. She quickly sold most of them but still had some left. After feeling like an auctioneer, Rees heard someone call out from the back of the barn, “What about Dupuy?” A shy assistant trainer named Pat Dupuy (pronounced by his family as “DOO-pree” but known to everyone on the backstretch as “DOO-pee”) stepped forward and shrugged. “Yeah, sure. I’ll take one.” On a whim, Rees decided not to charge him. Instead, she handed him the cap with a grin and said, “You can buy me a beer at Bernie’s after this.”

That evening, Rees and Dupuy ended up at Bernie’s, the local bar where horsemen gathered after long days at the track. One beer turned into two, then three, and by the end of the night, a spark had ignited. From that night on, Rees and Dupuy grew inseparable.

Rees soon found herself working from an unlikely office: the tack room. While meeting deadlines and chasing down stories, she also took on the role of Dupuy’s barn hand. As her involvement grew, she became a licensed hotwalker in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Illinois, West Virginia and Indiana.

Spending long hours on the backside of the track with Dupuy gave her access to a side of the industry few journalists experience. Her early mornings and late nights in the barn and on the track brought valuable connections, earning her a reputation among trainers, jockeys and barn staff as someone they could trust. In time, this dual role as journalist and track worker became one of her greatest assets, solidifying her place within the racing community.

Fighting for the Little Guys

Rees worked her way from knowing nothing about the racing industry to winning four individual Eclipse Awards, racing’s most prestigious journalism honor, and a fifth for leading a Courier-Journal multimedia project. She was voted the Kentucky Sportswriter of the Year twice by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. In 2014, she was named to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor.

By then, Rees knew she wanted to plunge full time into horse racing and jumped at the opportunity to take a corporate buyout from the Courier-Journal in late 2015. Almost seamlessly, she became a communications and advocacy specialist in the horse industry, handling communications for the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association as well as serving as the media consultant for the National HBPA. She also is Kentucky Downs’ publicity director.

When the Kentucky HBPA worked to protect pari-mutuel wagering through historical horse racing machines in 2021, the former executive director, Marty Maline, called upon Rees to use her legislative contacts and relationships to help tell the stories of horsemen and horsewomen in order to promote the livelihood side of the industry.

JENNIE REES (LEFT), HERE AT KEENELAND RACE COURSE WITH AWARD-WINNING BROADCASTERS CATON BREDAR AND STEVE BYK, WEARS MANY HATS AS A MEMBER OF THE MEDIA AND AS A PUBLICIST.

Rees joined the movement and noticed that the racing industry was largely being portrayed through pictures of beautiful, pristine paddocks at farms with mares and their foals. Rees believed this was the wrong approach.

“This is why [legislators] think we are the Sport of Kings, because they used a piece of property owned by someone very wealthy,” she said. “That’s not what they want to see. We started publishing pictures of people interacting with the horses at the racetrack. … People on the backside doing their job.”

In one Kentucky HBPA promotion, Rees published a video that shared the story of Gary Churchman, a blacksmith who has been a racetrack farrier for more than 40 years. He talked about historical horse racing’s impact on the Kentucky racing industry, saying that although he might not be a “rich man,” he was able to put his two children through college by shoeing horses.

Rees’ campaign to debunk the Sport of Kings stereotype and to portray horsemen and horsewomen as ordinary people who are simply trying to make a living succeeded. Damon Thayer, the former Kentucky Senate majority floor leader, credited the Kentucky HBPA as being one of the biggest difference makers in saving the state’s ability to wager on historical horse racing.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear subsequently signed legislation aimed at securing the legality of betting on historical racing machines, which, overall, protects the state’s Thoroughbred racing industry. As a journalist and media consultant, Rees has spent her career writing articles and press releases, gathering signatures for surveys, creating video interviews and telling the stories of horsemen and horsewomen. But above all her titles and accolades, she is a horsewoman who fights for the little guys.

“You cannot build a race card without the little guys,” she said. “[Regulation] is being stacked against them because so many of the changes are made to accommodate the big guys. But you still have these little guys who love the horse. … You can’t run them off. They are the backbone.”

THE LATE AWARD-WINNING TURF WRITER BILLY REED INTRODUCES JENNIE REES DURING AN EVENT TO RECOGNIZE HER PLACE IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF RACING’S JOE HIRSCH MEDIA ROLL OF HONOR.

Precarious Man’s win back in February 1988 wasn’t just a fleeting moment of victory on the track; it was a testament to the power of perseverance, hope and resilience. Much like that underdog Thoroughbred, Rees carved her own path in an industry that often seemed insurmountable. She began her career with minimal knowledge of racing but transformed herself into a trusted voice for the unsung heroes of the sport.

From the backside barns to the halls of the state capitol, Rees has fought tirelessly to amplify the voices of those who, like Precarious Man, might otherwise be overlooked. Just as the underdog sprinter finally crossed the finish line in front, Rees’ career stands as a testament to what can be achieved with unwavering passion and determination. Her journey of becoming a horsewoman proves that the heart of horse racing isn’t just in the glory of the finish line but in the grit, dedication and love for the sport shared by all who make it possible— the backbones. HJ

“But you still have these little guys who love the horse ... You can’t run them off. They are the backbone.”

REES INTERVIEWS FORMER MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL OUTFIELDER JAYSON WERTH BEFORE LAST YEAR’S KENTUCKY DERBY AS EVENTUAL BELMONT STAKES WINNER DORNOCH RELAXES IN HIS STALL AT CHURCHILL DOWNS.

Hannah Hamelback is a senior at Western Kentucky University, graduating in May 2025 with a major in broadcasting, a minor in journalism and a certificate in strategic communication. A native of Paris, Kentucky, Hamelback grew up in barns and formed bonds with horses of all backgrounds, whether a Kentucky Derby-winning stallion like Giacomo or a retired barrel racing pony named Pete. She has observed the Thoroughbred industry through a unique and personal point of view, and her experiences have fueled a deep appreciation for the often-overlooked stories within the horse racing world. With aspirations to blend her love of horse racing and her passion for storytelling, Hannah crafted “The Backbone of the Stable” as a heartfelt homage to the industry’s unsung heroes, showcasing her distinct perspective and capturing the essence of a world she holds close to her heart.

JENNIE

Racing resumes May 2025

Race days guaranteed by law

Purses guaranteed by law

Total purses of over 14 million in 2024

Stakes program of over 3.2 million

Iowa Bred stakes program totaling $1,150,000

Breeders’ awards paid first - fourth place

TIMELY TOPICS

By Jennie Rees

Ongoing legal issues with HISA and HIWU, advances in technology to aid horses and horsemen and an innovative therapy program take center stage at the annual conference

Timely issues facing the racing industry—and much of America to boot—dominated the discussions and panels of the 2025 National HBPA Conference held February 24-26 at the Safety Harbor Resort and Spa just outside Tampa, Florida.

The in-depth discussions featured panels focused on workforce and immigration issues, medication research, ways technology can benefit horsemen and the industry at large and federal overreach brought on by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU).

The conference started fast with two panels—one featuring lawyers and one with research veterinarians—that recommended steps trainers can take to diminish the chances of a horse’s post-race drug test coming up positive for

an impermissible substance. They also recommended actions to help mitigate potential sanctions if a positive finding occurs.

Dr. Rob Holland, a Kentucky veterinarian and researcher, offered some messaging advice first: “Never say the word ‘positive.’ Say ‘chemical identification.’ ” Or, as National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback prefers, “adverse analytical findings.”

Whatever the nomenclature, horsemen can find themselves in a precarious position under the rules determined by the federally mandated HISA and its testing and enforcement arm, HIWU. Many of the adverse findings can be traced to environmental contamination and inadvertent transfer from humans to horses, according to the researchers who spoke during the Kent Stirling Memorial Medication Panel. The National HBPA long has advocated

THE 2025 NATIONAL HBPA CONFERENCE, CONDUCTED JUST A FEW MILES FROM TAMPA BAY DOWNS IN LATE FEBRUARY, FEATURED LIVELY CONVERSATION ON TOPICS RANGING FROM FEDERAL OVERREACH TO WORKFORCE ISSUES TO HELPING VETERANS WITH RETIRED RACEHORSES.

Photos by Denis Blake

RENOWNED VETERINARIANS DR. CLARA FENGER AND DR. THOMAS TOBIN PROVIDED AN OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH PROJECTS EXAMINING SUBSTANCE CONTAMINATION IN RACEHORSES DURING THE KENT STIRLING MEMORIAL MEDICATION PANEL.

for establishing no-effect testing thresholds that reflect today’s ultrasensitive testing technology and the abundance of human prescription and street drugs in the environment.

Jay Ingle and Chris Hoskins of the Jackson Kelly law firm’s Lexington, Kentucky, office were on the legal panel that opened the conference. Ingle and Hoskins are among the pro bono lawyers who provide qualifying trainers legal counsel if their horses’ tests are determined to have chemical identifications. Ingle said the pro bono lawyers working for free under the HIWU program are top-notch.

“Don’t think of it as you get what you pay for, and it’s free,” he said. “The attorneys at HIWU would quickly tell you that none of us taking on these cases are rolling over. We’re fighting just as hard as for the ones where we get paid.”

Ingle said there are very distinct trends “both to help you and your horsemen to protect yourselves on the front end but also how to navigate the system once you get in it, if you unfortunately are.”

They emphasized that trainers in such situations should act immediately to get knowledgeable advice because of time limits in place.

Horsemen also should show they are trying to play by the rules. That includes actions such as accurate recordkeeping and documentation of employee training that covers instructing them to wash hands and not to urinate in a horse’s stall or have caffeine when they’re around a horse.

If the case goes before an independent arbitrator, “they want to see that trainers who are accused are respecting the process,” Ingle said. “Not flaunting it, not trying to get around it. Once you are in the HIWU process, that is not the time to attack the system. … Arbitrators are not responding well at all to that. They want to see that, even if you disagree with the rules, you’re trying to play by them. … Don’t try to hide things. Don’t try to cover things up or lie. The arbitrators are good. They spot it if you’re trying to pull a fast one. Your horsemen are going to do much better before an arbitrator by being honest. Sometimes that means acknowledging something that’s not great: ‘Yeah, I could have had the barn sign up earlier.’ That’s going to be a lot better than trying to talk your way out of it.

“The arbitrator will ask the horsemen, ‘What did you do to educate yourself? What did you do to learn about the rules, to try to follow the rules?’” Ingle added.

Horsemen also must stay on HIWU during the hearing’s discovery phase to get the information they need to best defend themselves.

DURING THE OPENING PANEL, JAY INGLE AND CHRIS HOSKINS, ATTORNEYS AT LAW FIRM JACKSON KELLY’S LEXINGTON OFFICE, GAVE ADVICE AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HORSEMEN FACING SANCTIONS FROM HIWU.

“It’s pulling teeth to get documents out of them, something I’d think should be pretty simple,” Ingle said. “I’m not talking out of school because I’ve said it to their general counsel. There are some things we can fight over; there are some basic things that are fair to everybody. Let us have the documents, and we can have an argument over what they mean. It’s been challenging, so you need an effective advocate to make sure the trainer is getting the information they need to defend themselves.”

Horsemen’s associations can help their membership “by first educating yourself,” Ingle said. “When new education pieces come out, be sure to read them, and then make sure to get them to your members in an effective way to communicate … because this process is very foreign to them. Heck, when it started, it was pretty foreign to us.”

Jackson Kelly has created a horseman’s toolkit with short, easy-to-digest videos on a variety of topics, including what horsemen and horsewomen need to do both before and during interactions with HISA and HIWU. The subjects include best practices; the importance of recordkeeping; posting signs telling stable employees what to do and not do to prevent contamination; and what to do if a HIWU investigator shows up at your barn to present a notice of violation, intermediate steps to take after receiving such a notice and how horsemen and horsewomen can protect themselves.

Ingle said HISA and HIWU also have some very good educational materials on their websites.

“We’ve got to be here steadfast, work for our convictions and make sure we’re working to do things right. We’re not going to let regulations override horsemanship.”

— National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback

In the final panel of Day 1, Dr. Kim Brewer recommended trainers not only install security cameras in their barn but also take photos to document that state and HISA employees in contact with a horse are following all protocols. (One problem is that HIWU has instituted a rule banning horsemen from videoing or taking photos in the test barn.)

“If you’re selected for drug testing, be very mindful and watchful,” she said. “If you can’t be there, have a witness there to watch what the testers are doing. If they are not wearing gloves, take a picture of that, write that down. Make sure they’re following all the documented procedures. If you can—I know it will be on the paperwork—get the names of everyone who handled your horse. Document everything. Put it down in writing when it’s happening.

“If there’s any unusual circumstance around the blood or urine collection, such as the horse being a jerk and not being easy to stick [to take blood], that’s super important to us,” she continued. “That can help you if you know that things didn’t go exactly smoothly. If you do get a chemical identification, make sure you retain a lawyer, if you can. … If you are shipping in, I’d be documenting everything like crazy, because we know ship-in stalls are a huge source of contamination.

“Get your data. Request that your B sample (what used to be known as the ‘split’ or ‘referee’ sample to confirm the original finding) be submitted. Get all your lab documentation. HIWU likes to drag their feet on that. Find out if it was in the blood or the urine or both. We need to know the concentrations. And find out if it was the parent drug or the metabolite.”

Brewer’s final advice is that many of the arbitrators don’t have extensive racing or horse knowledge.

“So go at it with a very gentle, educational approach.” Holland, an expert in infectious diseases, said, “Anywhere the horse’s mouth goes, think about that as a potential problem for you for environmental or irrelevant thresholds to occur. That could be the water buckets, the corners of the stall. We’re seeing a lot of trainers being the ones to give the medication because they’re too worried about a problem.

“The solution to pollution is dilution,” he added but noted that even intensely cleaning stalls multiple times may not get rid of all the contamination, which is why video documentation can be so important. He said he asks his trainer clients who are shipping to another track to race to take pictures of the barn and the stall before their horse goes into it.

‘We’re Not Finding Really Doping’

The medication panel featured Drs. Clara Fenger, Thomas Tobin, Brewer and Holland—all veterinarians and researchers with multiple degrees and who have spearheaded research into determining at what level in various substances there is no pharmacological effect on the horse. The panelists provided updates on their concerted effort to publish peer-reviewed research in making science-

“Our funding, heck, it comes from wherever we can get it.”

—

Dr. Clara Fenger on ongoing research into the pharmacological effects of various substances on horses

ATTORNEY DANIEL SUHR AND NATIONAL HBPA CEO ERIC HAMELBACK KICKED OFF THE 2025 CONFERENCE WITH A PANEL DISCUSSING HISA, HIWU AND RHSA.

based recommendations for testing thresholds for medications and drugs readily found in the environment. Holland said HIWU, which oversees most of American Thoroughbred racing’s drug testing and enforcement, seems to be paying attention to the published peer-reviewed articles.

Brewer said HIWU does not publish its testing levels, “so it’s really hard to know exactly what level they’re testing at—which makes it very hard to understand what’s going on. … When you read about [adverse findings], it very rarely says what level these substances are being identified at, which is very important.”

Brewer said she went through the HIWU portal and counted 68 different substances that had been picked up as violations.

“And 75% of those are really just overages of therapeutic medications,” she said. “Of those, 17 were considered banned by HIWU. So, we’ve got about 25% of the substances identified by HIWU as considered banned; the majority of those are just inadvertent exposure or what we refer to as environmental contamination.

“We’re not finding really doping,” she continued. “We’re finding just overages of therapeutic medications for the most part. … We need scientifically based thresholds. They need to be made public. HIWU needs to stop focusing on inadvertent exposure and environment contamination because it’s a waste of money and it’s ruining public perception of our sport.”

Fenger thanked the HBPA and its affiliates for their donations toward the research, saying it costs about $2,500 to $3,500 per paper to get published.

“It’s important research,” she said. “Whenever you have a board meeting, throw us in there [for funding consideration].”

HISA, HIWU, RHSA Updates

The conference’s opening session has become a staple with updates on HISA and HIWU. The Racehorse Health and Safety Act (RHSA), which has been filed in the U.S. House of Representatives as replacement legislation should HISA someday be ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, also was discussed.

Batting leadoff was Daniel Suhr, founder of the nonprofit Center for American Rights and lead attorney on the National HBPA’s court challenges to HISA. Suhr updated the conference on the status of the case, which is pending acceptance to be heard by the Supreme Court.

“The very short answer is that we have fallen into second place in the pipeline in the court cases,” Suhr said. “This morning, I get to tell you about a new analogous regulatory scheme—the universal service fee. Every time you pay a phone bill, there’s a little fee on it that goes to the government.

“That fee was created by Congress to develop universal phone service by building phone towers all over the place,” he continued. “I have good news; the government has accomplished that goal. Everybody has phone service. But like perhaps most government taxes, this one has not gone away even though the goal was achieved. Instead, the universal service fee goes to build broadband. But the way they do the fee is a private corporation that is basically a trade association of the broadband-telecom industry. They all get together and decide about how much money they want to spend on building broadband infrastructure. They submit that to the Federal Communications Commission. The commission rubber-stamps the fee for that year. They’ve only rejected it three times, and it was by like a penny.”

Suhr said that, after the National HBPA won at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, “some innovative lawyers said, ‘Oh, what HISA’s doing is the same thing that the universal service fee does. It’s a private corporation. It’s getting rubber-stamped by a federal commission, but they’re the ones determining your taxes on your phone bill.’ So, they filed a case in the 5th Circuit, based on our win, and the 5th Circuit agreed.”

However, the HBPA case fell behind the universal service fee challenge because “our friends at HISA decided to take 75 days to file a hopeless appeal within the 5th Circuit to ask them to reconsider their decision,” he said. “As a result, we went from being ahead by three weeks to being behind by a month and a half.

“I like to think of HISA’s attitude as like a tick,” he continued. “A tick burrows in, and the longer the tick has to burrow and the deeper it goes, even if we eventually win, the harder it is to pull it out—and the more painful it is to pull it out. That was their attitude: We’re just going to let this thing go as long as we can, burrow in as deep as we can so even if they eventually win, it’s going to be a pain to get rid of us.”

Suhr said that attitude suddenly changed in September when it became evident there could be a new administration in Washington with a different U.S. president, new attorney general and different Federal Trade Commission, which was given oversight of HISA in the enabling legislation. But “the lost ground couldn’t be made up,” he said.

TINA BOND, PRESIDENT OF THE THOROUGHBRED HORSEMEN’S ASSOCIATION AND ITS NEW YORK AFFILIATE, AND HER HUSBAND, TRAINER H. JAMES BOND, MEET WITH NATIONAL HBPA CEO ERIC HAMELBACK DURING THE WELCOME RECEPTION SPONSORED BY THE TAMPA BAY HBPA.

“I always tell trainers, if your I-9s are tight, you’re all right.”

— Will Velie, CEO of Horseman Labor Solutions

The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear oral arguments March 27 in the universal service fee case, Suhr said. “Hopefully, we’ll get some indication of where the justices are at, based on the questions they ask,” he said. “I actually think the universal service fee case will help us in coming first, in the sense that until this point, we’ve never had a good fight about the fees that HISA charges. I know you all hate the fees HISA charges, one of the things you complain to me about the most, and I get it. But it’s never been a central focus in the case. We’ve talked a lot about the rules; we’ve talked a lot about enforcement. I think we’ll have a chance after that decision to really put more of a focus on the fees.”

Suhr concluded: “We are going to win. It’s just going to take a little bit longer.”

Eric Hamelback discussed the RHSA, which the National HBPA played a major role in drafting in consultation with other industry stakeholders. Proponents say the RHSA is fairer, more transparent, more cost-effective and constitutional.

While some jurisdictions want no federal legislation, Hamelback cautioned, “the vast majority of those [lawmakers] we talked to in D.C., they are not going to give up their footprint. They’re either going to try to make HISA whole and put it back into place, or they’re looking for an alternative. The RHSA is what we believe is an alternative based on the fact that it puts not only the investigation, adjudication and enforcement back into the hands of racing commissions but it then generates uniformity [through a national compact]. … We’ve got to be there to fight for something, and we can’t do it if we don’t have anything to push forward as a solution.”

Hamelback said HISA is reverting to a fees assessment formula for states based on the number of starters at their tracks—as described in the enabling legislation—rather than its recent formula that combined purse levels and starters.

“That’s going to be significantly damaging to many racetracks in the country,” he said. “There are many racetracks now being threatened with letters [that] ‘you’ve got to start putting in this per-start fee.’ Please talk to us about that. Because there are affiliates that have already started a path to push back on that. They can’t take money from the horsemen’s purse account.”

Workforce, Immigration Issues

President Donald Trump’s aggressive policies toward deporting undocumented immigrants figure to have ramifications for horsemen having increasing difficulty in finding barn help, speakers said during the panel “Navigating Today’s Workforce Issues and Immigration Issues.” Oscar Gonzales, vice chair of the California Horse Racing Board and who served in the Obama administration as an immigration advisor; labor attorney Will Velie, CEO of Horseman Labor Solutions; and Remi Bellocq of the Bluegrass Community and Technical College (BCTC) Equine Studies Program led the panel.

JENNIE REES PHOTO

“People that aren’t stressed out are happier, better workers.”

— Will Velie, CEO of Horseman Labor Solutions

“We all know there’s a lot of anxiety right now,” said Gonzales, who grew up as a third-generation groom on the California backstretches, “as there has been. Things are just a little more serious this time around. Because we are looking at high numbers of deportations. We just never know when those could hit or how they could hit. What we do know is there is a high possibility that they will be acting—and swiftly and rather aggressively.”

Gonzales said there is proposed legislation that would include equine workers in the U.S. Senate’s version of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.

“We also know that the attention for agriculture in general, with prices going high, with the possibility of tariffs and lack of market access, it could really intensify the need to give farmers some things to work with, including a stable workforce,” he said.

Velie praised the HBPA’s work in creating effective strategies to maximize foreign workers at racetracks receiving H-2B visas, which are for temporary, non-agriculture work or services. Getting those visas can put workers on the path to permanent U.S. residency and ultimately citizenship, he said.

Bellocq said the racing workforce cannot exist just on domestic workers or just on guest workers.

“It’s only a combination of the two that’s going to solve our workforce problem or challenges,” he said.

He said his BCTC equine program places 100% of its graduates, which are 90% female, in equine positions, but the difficulty is retaining them. He said the No. 1 issue chasing workers away from the industry is affordable housing.

“We produce a lot of good, solid workers, but their expectation after a year or six months of paying their dues [is] they want to move up,” he said. “The problem is who is going to fill that spot they just left.”

Technological Advances

Two panels—including one led by Tina Bond, president of the national Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (THA) and New York THA—dug into the ever-changing and expanding world of technology. Bond, the wife of veteran New

“I probably could do a five-hour discussion of California.”

— Oscar Gonzales, vice chair of the California Horse Racing Board, on issues facing his state

York-based trainer H. James Bond, discussed her project “The Heart of Horse Racing,” a marketing strategy with a heavy reliance on technology to get the message of a fun and exciting sport in front of people online who aren’t racegoers but share some interests with those who are.

Bond said too often racing just responds to negative stories, which she believes is a losing strategy. Instead, horse racing should share its heart-tugging stories and passion for the horses.

“We have to have a one sport brand,” Bond said. “We don’t have that. The NFL has it. Major League Baseball has it. But we don’t really have that. We have Kentucky, we have New York, Florida. But we don’t have a horse racing brand, and I think that’s where we’re missing the mark. It’s important to all of us, but we need to take it to another level. We all need to do our own share of marketing. But we’re still missing that one brand, what we can do to entice people to come and be part of our sport instead of going to other sports. This campaign isn’t about fixing a broken narrative. It’s about creating a new one. That new narrative is going to carry us through.”

While the racing industry has done other campaigns designed to tell the sport’s stories through the eyes of participants, the difference with The Heart of Horse Racing is its digital technology, said Bond’s collaborator, Jimmy Chaffin, the managing partner at Integrated Marketing, which specializes in creative strategy and visual storytelling. Chaffin has shaped through his award-winning work such diverse global brands as Jack Daniel’s, Bridgestone, the Jamaica Tourist Board, Goodwill Industries, Dollar General and the Nashville Predators.

“You have so many stories to tell, and we’re just getting started,” said Chaffin, a racing enthusiast who lives outside of Nashville.

The presentation included video interviews of trainers, jockeys and fans at Saratoga multipurposed into long-form storytelling, short-form storytelling and 30-second clips. Keeneland and nearby breeding farms are up next.

The key is getting those stories outside of people already interested in racing, and that’s where the campaign’s targeted technology comes in.

OSCAR GONZALES, WILL VELIE AND REMI BELLOCQ DISCUSS WORKFORCE AND IMMIGRATION ISSUES AFFECTING HORSEMEN IN THE UNITED STATES’ EVER-CHANGING POLITICAL CLIMATE.

“We’re talking about a laser-paid focus,” Chaffin said. “We take that ad, there are codes on that ad that make it unique. If we take that and send it to a landing page that has its own original footprint, these two things are now talking to each other. The page is creating analytics based on where the ad originated, who opened the ad, the demographics connected to the person who opened the ad, including the town or city they’re in. We do what is called look-alike audiences. It creates heat maps and look-alike audiences of people in that same area.”

The conference’s final panel, titled “Helping Horsemen Through Today’s Technology,” featured Jeff DeAngelis, head of sales for Horcery, and Michael Novak, a technologist and software engineer entrepreneur who founded Backstretch, a web-based management platform for horse racing stables.

“I’m the chaplain at Canterbury Park. I love God and horses and cussing.”

—

Sally Jane Mixon, founder of the Abijah’s therapy

program

Horcery, a new National HBPA corporate sponsor, produces the Stall Monitor, a cutting-edge system that provides 24/7 monitoring with artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled cameras and real-time alerts. Horcery bills the system as helping to protect equine investments, improve stable management and ensure horse safety while empowering horsemen to reduce risks and optimize performance.

Anyone in the barn who shouldn’t be? Stall Monitor is your security force that never needs a lunch break. Want to know what time of day individual horses typically eat, drink, sleep, poop? Stall Monitor can tell you via your phone or through the search function.

“It’s an AI that learns your horse’s behavior from the minute they step in the stall,” DeAngelis said. “If there are any deviations, any anomaly, it will actually set that off, and you will get a customized alert to your phone to let you get out there before an accident turns into an emergency situation. With everything going on, regulations changing, there’s more of a need than ever to have something like this in all of your stalls. … The traditional CCTV cameras were fine in their time. They simply record and you can go back and view data, but it doesn’t actually help you get ahead of a problem.”

“I live on a 90-acre farm in Paris, Kentucky. It’s isolated. Come on, call me.”

— Jeff DeAngelis, head of sales for Horcery, while giving out his contact information

CANTERBURY PARK CHAPLAIN AND EXERCISE RIDER SALLY JANE MIXON OUTLINED HOW HER ABIJAH’S PROGRAM BENEFITS VETERANS, FIRST RESPONDERS AND RETIRED RACEHORSES.

Backstretch, Novak’s name for his management platform designed for racehorse owners and trainers, is up and running with much more to come, he said. The basic cost is $10 a month, with the option for additional add-ons. Features include delivering real-time notifications for entries, results and workouts and post times on a single account. The platform is designed for efficiency, including providing convenient communication between owners and trainers, he said.

“There is a stable management aspect to it, but my goals for this product are much bigger than that,” said Novak, a tech entrepreneur with a Microsoft background. “I’d like for this to be the digital platform, the portal to get any information that you need about your stable. You’re getting all your information in one spot.”

Among the enhancements in the works is the ability to add a customized stable website.

“You’ll be able to pick and choose which stable updates are part of your platform, that will show up on your public page,” Novak said. “You can add a domain name. It gives you an opportunity to have a web presence without too much effort.”

Future options include expenses and billing management and tax-form generators, he said.

‘Penicillin in the Shape of 1,200-Pound Animals’

The final day of educational presentations featured a session on how retired racehorses are transforming the lives of first responders and military members as well as schoolchildren of backstretch workers.

Sally Jane Mixon is a Canterbury Park backstretch chaplain, exercise rider (which she calls her “Christmas every morning”) and mental health counselor with a B.S. in human development studies and an M.S. in professional counseling. She has certifications as an equine specialist and mental health professional, with more than 20 years of working in the field, including the last decade while incorporating off-the-track racehorses.

Mixon has intertwined her counseling skills with old horses, some cantankerous and unable to do little more than walk, to help military and first responders suffering from stress, anxiety, difficulty coping and other mental health challenges including addiction.

“The thing about talk therapy is it doesn’t work for everybody,” she said. “It didn’t work for me. I almost died of anorexia in my college years, a long time ago. I never half-assed anything, being the daughter of a Marine, so I was a really

good anorexic. … So much therapy when you’re talking with people, if you don’t trust people, it’s not going to work. For me, the horses saved my life at a really young age. I grew up riding. I was 5 years old, fell off my first horse and I was hooked. Horses have an innate ability to heal.”

Mixon said the term “Abijah” is Hebrew for “the Lord is my father” and it also was her first horse’s name. Now, she uses the term for her therapeutic model that includes a mental health professional at a master’s level and an equine specialist. Front and center are the horses using their mystical powers to connect with individuals in a downward spiral.

“Abijah’s is the bridge between a racing industry and community wellness, pairing off-track Thoroughbreds with professional counselors,” she said. “We meet the mental health needs on the backside communities of the tracks to the front lines where our first responders and military serve. … These incredible animals are so intuitive. They’re going to pick up what’s going on internally, and they play it out. This works, and it’s completely mind-blowing. My job is to watch miracles.”

Mixon believes the program’s results are so powerful that it will transform not just participants but the image of horse racing.

“We’re going to do it at racetracks or farms around racetracks,” she said. “That’s going to give incredible PR for racetracks. It’s going to become known for saving lives, horses and humans. We’re not going to be talking about breakdowns. We’re going to be talking about lifting people up, lifting horses up. We’re meeting the need in a really unique way.”

Mixon told the story of a Marine veteran, now in law enforcement, who faced an internal battle because he didn’t feel bad about what happened overseas, when half his squad was killed in action and more died at home from suicide. His anxiety was sky-high, she said, with his very strong Catholic background causing angst over his lack of feeling.

When the big Marine was sweating profusely during his counseling session, the horse Rocket Wrench began walking alongside him. Even after the lead rope was disengaged, the old gelding kept pace, “[putting] his nose on this Marine’s shoulder and [walking] with him,” Mixon said. “Rocket doesn’t do that. Rocket bites. But he has his head rested on this Marine, and they’re walking step and step. He goes 200 feet, and all of a sudden, Rocket just lays down at this Marine’s feet. And the tears come.”

The Abijah’s program expanded a youth component at Canterbury Park when it joined forces with Furlong Learning as a summer program for the school-age kids of backstretch workers.

THE 2025 NATIONAL HBPA CONFERENCE, CONDUCTED JUST A FEW MILES FROM TAMPA BAY DOWNS IN LATE FEBRUARY, FEATURED LIVELY CONVERSATION ON TOPICS RANGING FROM FEDERAL OVERREACH TO WORKFORCE ISSUES TO HELPING VETERANS WITH RETIRED RACEHORSES.

“Keep up the good work. There’s a lot of us out there cheering from the sidelines.”

— Former Kentucky HBPA Executive Director Marty Maline

That program started after a young girl kept asking Meghan Riley—working as a groom because of her love of horses but who has a B.S. in education with certifications in science and language immersion—for help with homework. That became a daily occurrence, and when Riley learned the girl had two siblings, she asked the Minnesota HBPA in 2020 to help launch a tutoring service. The program grew to 24 students, then to 37 and, as of last year, to 54 students, with the activities expanding to include an athletic component, outside excursions and an emotional learning curriculum.

Mixon said there can be commonalities between the backstretch population and the first responder and military population.

“They tell themselves they’re not worth it,” Mixon said of struggling individuals. “That’s mental health stuff. When a 1,200-pound animal chooses them and says, ‘No, you are,’ that experience transforms them. It’s a win for the backside community, a win for horses, for the surrounding community and for the industry. Abijah’s has been able to get legislative funding, and we’re saying this is happening at the racetrack.

“Canterbury Park is helping people learn how to run their race,” she continued. “We’re trying to open the eyes of the community and public and let them see that racing is so much more. I am 100% so convinced that I’m willing to look like a fool [believing] this could help transform the industry. We’re in a mental health crisis, and we have tons of penicillin in the shape of 1,200-pound animals. And it’s freakin’ awesome.” HJ

MARTY MALINE (RIGHT), THE KENTUCKY HBPA’S FIRST EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WHO RETIRED AT THE END OF 2023 AFTER 47 YEARS IN THE POST, WAS RECOGNIZED WITH A RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION FOR HIS SERVICE TO THE INDUSTRY. NATIONAL HBPA VICE PRESIDENT RICK HILES, WHO WORKED ALONGSIDE MALINE FOR YEARS AS PRESIDENT OF THE KENTUCKY HBPA, MADE THE PRESENTATION TO HIS LONGTIME FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE.

Thayer Encourages Cooperation

Damon Thayer, who recently completed a 22-year tenure in the Kentucky Senate, knows a thing or two about making a pitch from the pulpit. His theme when he delivered the keynote address at the National HBPA Convention: “Cooperation is always better than extinction.”

Thayer delivered humorous, sometimes outrageous and sobering thoughts during his 35-minute address. While acknowledging both the storm clouds and the many positives facing the industry, Thayer’s biggest takeaway was the importance of horsemen in every racing jurisdiction building relationships with their state legislators—and most of that should happen when the lawmakers are not in session.

“It’s mind-boggling what a legislator has to absorb every day, and if an industry isn’t aligned, the easiest thing for a legislator to do is to wash their hands of it and say, ‘I’m a no,’ ” he said. “But our industry [in Kentucky] got together quickly, because of this one truism: Cooperation is always better than extinction.

“Now, don’t wait for a crisis,” he added. “Because there will be a crisis. A need. A break-the-glass, pull-the-fire-alarm moment. Build those relationships now, not just when you need something. … When they’re not in session, invite them to the racetrack, your farm, your training center, your vet clinic. They need to see the jobs. Tell them how many checks a month you write to vendors, to blacksmiths.

“And do not get complacent. … Because we have it now doesn’t mean somebody isn’t going to want to take it away. There are enemies of horse racing in Kentucky. You have to be vigilant. But you’ve got to build these relationships.”

National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback originally chose Thayer as the keynote speaker to share the story of Kentucky’s overwhelming success with historical horse racing (HHR) and how that might translate to other states. Shortly after Thayer was lined up, the story blew up about Gulfstream Park’s ownership pushing a bill that would allow the South Florida track to keep its gaming licenses without the current legislative obligation to have live Thoroughbred racing.

After writing an op-ed for the National HBPA about how the Florida Legislature should take a page from Kentucky, Thayer was enlisted as senior advisor to the new Thoroughbred Racing Initiative. That industry collaboration, of which the National HBPA is part, is working to defeat Florida’s decoupling legislation.

“It looks like the skids are pretty greased in Tallahassee for [the decoupling bill] to pass the House,” Thayer said. “Our goal is to kill the decoupling bill in the Senate. It’s going to be a tough uphill climb, but we’re all working together.”

Canadian industrialist and horseman Frank Stronach bought Gulfstream Park in 1999, well before the Florida constitutional amendment passed in 2005 that allowed Broward County to have casino-type gaming at pari-mutuel facilities. A former member of Canada’s Parliament, Belinda Stronach took over control of her family’s racing and gaming interests, including Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita, in 2020 after a bitter dispute with her father.

“This is a little bit of heaven to me.”

Jimmy Chaffin, managing partner at Integrated Marketing, on working on The Heart of Horse Racing project with the New York THA

“Here in Florida, big storm clouds are forming,” Thayer said. “A Canadianowned company, formed by somebody who used to be a Canadian Member of Parliament, up there in the 51st state—Wait! Sorry, we haven’t done that yet—striking a $3 billion industry. That Canadian company, who got the privilege of having a casino at its racetrack in Hallandale Beach, Florida … that makes it $50 million to $60 million a year, now wants to back out of that commitment and leave high and dry an industry with a $3 billion impact and 33,000 jobs.”

Thayer said he believes the racing circuits that will survive and thrive in the next five to 10 years will be “states where the industry has great relationships with their legislators and legislature.” He cited Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Virginia, Indiana and Arkansas “just to name a few.”

He said horsemen must ensure lawmakers hear their stories, adding, “Racing has a great story to tell about the jobs, the tourism and preservation of land and green space, the taxes paid, reinvestment in the economy.”

—Jennie

Rees

Watch and Listen

Visit the National HBPA website at hbpa.org for Damon Thayer’s full keynote address.

FORMER KENTUCKY STATE SENATOR DAMON THAYER DELIVERS THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT THE 2025 NATIONAL HBPA CONFERENCE.

“At the end of the day I’m just a fan.”

Keynote speaker Damon Thayer, former Kentucky Senate majority floor leader

“This is my first foray, certainly my first flight out in my wheelchair. It hasn’t been simple, but I had a lot of help. It would not be right not to recognize all the people in this room who have contributed both monetarily as well as spiritually to my recovery. … Your support, I’ve felt. It means a lot to me and has been a huge part of my motivation to stay positive, a huge part of my recovery. I’ve got a long way to go. But I’m a little better every day, and that’s my intention to stay that way.”

— National HBPA President Dr. Doug Daniels, making his first inperson appearance with the organization since a freak mishap at the end of August left him paralyzed

“If they’re successful, it could be the beginning of the end for racing as we know it. Because that will set a precedent for the rest of these casinos [that have horse racing] to say, ‘Well, they did it in Florida. Why can’t we do it?’ … We’re in a situation we’ve never been in before. We have to work hard to make sure racing continues.”

— Tampa Bay HBPA Vice President Jan Meehan on the decoupling issue facing horsemen in Florida

“I’d say 99.9% of auditors have no idea about what the language of our industry is all about. For example, takeout … what’s that?”

— Gunner laCour, president of CHRIMS-PGSI, discussing horsemen’s organizations dealing with data to ensure they receive all the purse money to which their members are entitled

■ Extra traction and wear

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■ Unclipped Front only, sizes 5 - 7

DRUG TESTING SENSITIVITY IN HORSE RACING HAS INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY, AND CHEMISTS FREQUENTLY ENCOUNTER PHARMACOLOGICALLY IRRELEVANT CONCENTRATIONS OF NUMEROUS SUBSTANCES IN PLASMA AND URINE SAMPLES FROM RACEHORSES.

By

FOLLOW THE SCIENCE

SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF Trace-Level Environmental Contamination Positives

Metformin, methamphetamine, altrenogest, gabapentin, sotalol, lamotrigine. The overwhelming majority of Thoroughbred racing positive drug tests, also known as adverse analytical findings (AAFs), are trace identifications of substances that cross over from their use in humans. Other AAFs result from the inadvertent consumption by horses of plants that may contaminate hay, such as hemp, or “ditch weed,” which can contain cannabidiol-related substances; jimsonweed, which contains scopolamine; and Teff hay, which contains synephrine. In almost all cases, the amount identified is infinitesimal, incapable of affecting a racehorse. Nonetheless, throughout the history of horse racing regulations, any detectable amount of a foreign substance has been considered a violation, resulting in disqualification, fines and suspensions.

Complicating this picture, the sensitivity of equine drug testing has increased dramatically over the course of the past 50 years, on the order of

1 million-fold or more. Racing chemists are now encountering pharmacologically irrelevant concentrations of numerous substances because essentially all substances can be detected at parts per trillion trace levels in racehorse plasma and urine samples.

As reflected in the Anti-Doping Rule Violations on the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) website, page after page of violations reflects the toll that this high sensitivity of drug testing is taking on the racing industry with disqualifications, fines and suspensions for AAFs a horse trainer had no ability to prevent.

Other racing disciplines are not immune; Standardbred and Quarter Horse racing have their share of these irrelevant findings. The problem of irrelevant concentrations of foreign substances causing AAFs in racing and contributing to negative publicity has not been lost on the United States Trotting Association or the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. In collaboration

Kimberly Brewer, DVM; Clara Fenger, DVM, PhD, DACVIM; Andreas Lehner, MS, PhD; and Thomas Tobin, MRCVS, PhD, DABT

with these organizations, our research group working closely with the North American Association of Racetrack Veterinarians has been endeavoring to provide a scientific path forward.

The focus on infractions from the innocent transfer of substances from the environment has allowed real attempts at cheating to proceed unchecked until they become serious stains on horse racing. Because drug testing requires the chemist to know the fingerprint of the exact molecule they are seeking to identify, current testing only determines ever smaller levels of known substances. A completely novel drug, such as the recent identification of carmoterol in Quarter Horse racing, could escape detection regardless of the level present. To focus research efforts and dollars toward detection of true doping, horse racing must solve the problem of irrelevant positives, which dominate the current list of HIWU infractions.

NEED FOR ‘CUTOFF’ LEVELS

As sensitivity of testing has increased, the establishment of “cutoff” levels or thresholds has become necessary. Our suggestion of regulatory thresholds for most of the dietary and environmental substances that can lead to inadvertent contamination is not without precedent.

The first dietary substance of concern in horse racing was theobromine, a caffeine-related plant substance found at trace levels in horse feed that began showing up 40 years ago in urine samples in Irish and English horse racing. Discussions with the horse feed industry made it clear that it was not possible to produce horse feed free of theobromine. The solution to this problem therefore was to introduce a regulatory threshold for theobromine in post-race urine. Experiments were performed in three horses, and analysis of the data suggested a regulatory cutoff of 2,000 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) in urine. Based on this experiment, the first-ever official theobromine threshold was introduced by the English Jockey Club in 1987 at 2,000 ng/mL in urine and remains in place.

Around the same time, the introduction of ELISA testing into racing chemistry led to the identification of many trace-level urinary concentrations of

the major cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine (BZE) as well as trace levels of morphine. The solution to these identifications? Regulatory cutoffs of about 100 ng/mL in urine for BZE and on the order of 50–100 ng/mL for total morphine plus metabolites recovered from urine samples. Interestingly, the first formal communication of a 50 ng/mL urinary threshold for morphine was by the British Jockey Club in 2003.

Determining the threshold concentrations of substances involves following a rigorous approach to protect horses, horsemen and the integrity of racing. Therefore, the selected concentration must be highly unlikely to have a pharmacological effect on the horse, must reflect no intentional race-day administration and must be published in scientific journals, which ensures that the scientific approach and conclusions of the study have undergone peer review by scientists in the field, are in the public domain and therefore available to all interested parties.

As drug testing has increased in sensitivity, testing has migrated toward more testing in blood samples. Blood concentrations of drugs provide a more meaningful relationship to an effect and are not subject to problems with testing in urine, such as masking substances and dilution. Blood is also more readily obtained from a horse because urine can be time-consuming to collect. This has resulted in recent AAFs in picogram/mL plasma concentrations of BZE called by HIWU. For comparison, the amount of cocaine required for an effect in humans is 100–500 ng/mL in plasma, many times the amounts identified by HIWU in horse blood samples. Clearly, picogram levels of the inactive metabolite of cocaine have no effect on the horse. We reviewed the published scientific literature in this area and proposed a 1 ng/mL regulatory threshold in plasma as equivalent to the long-established 100 ng/mL BZE threshold in urine, and this paper has been recently published. In November 2023, HIWU withdrew two cases against two trainers based on apparently sub-nanogram/mL detections of BZE in equine plasma samples in Pennsylvania racing.

The most important factor to consider when establishing a threshold for substances of regulatory concern in equine samples is to determine the irrelevant plasma concentration (IPC), or a blood concentration that has no effect on the horse. In cases in which a drug’s effect is directly related to its

blood concentration, the best method of determining an IPC is the one proposed by racing pharmacologist Pierre-Louis Toutain, along with Véronique Lassourd, in 2002. The first step is to determine the effective plasma concentration (EPC) of a medication, a common determination in pharmacology. Toutain then divides this EPC by a safety factor, recommending a quite conservative starting point of 1/500 of the EPC, but he is also on record for recommending as high as 1/20 of the EPC as the IPC of the substance in question. This IPC approach can be useful when dealing with a substance that is predominantly a human medication with no studies or use in horses to determine an EPC. In these cases, the EPC in humans can be used with a conservative IPC to provide confidence that the selected cutoff level is well below any concentration likely to be associated with a pharmacological effect.

When the effect of the drug is removed from its plasma concentration by either time (the effect is observed after the drug level goes down, such as erythropoietin) or space (the drug is measured in blood, but the effect occurs at a different site, like a local anesthetic), an experimental approach is more appropriate. The goal is to administer decreasing doses of the medication in question to identify the highest dose that produced no pharmacological effect. Once this highest no effect dose is identified, the associated blood and urinary concentrations are, by definition, no effect thresholds. These defined concentrations serve as threshold guidelines for regulators with regard to recognized therapeutic medications, with at least 40 such thresholds now in place in racing regulations worldwide.

Historically, regulatory thresholds for a substance of concern also may be based on practical analytical experience. The 100 ng/mL BZE cutoff that was introduced in several U.S. racing jurisdictions in the late 1980s was based on a review of results recorded in human drug testing.

HUMAN DRUG TRANSFERS

Our research group used the Toutain approach to determine the IPC for gabapentin, as detailed in our Fall 2020 article in The Horsemen’s Journal Gabapentin is a high-dose drug and a widely prescribed human medication that not infrequently transfers from humans to horses, from horses to horses and even from dogs to horses. Because it is a high-dose drug that is eliminated unchanged in the urine, it is frequently detected at low nanogram or picogram/mL concentrations in equine plasma samples. The question of an IPC of gabapentin arose so that regulators could be advised concerning the lack of

a pharmacological effect and therefore a lack of regulatory significance of a trace-level plasma concentration of gabapentin.

In reviewing the published science in this area, we identified the EPC of gabapentin as being in the area of 22 micrograms/mL. Dividing this value by 500 gives one an IPC of 44 ng/mL. A review of the concentrations identified in a series of gabapentin positives in Ohio showed none above 2 ng/mL, so we suggested 5 ng/mL as a quite conservative regulatory cutoff. At the same time, Dr. Richard Sams suggested an 8 ng/mL cutoff, which, to our knowledge, is the threshold now implemented in Ohio harness racing and well below the highly conservative Toutain IPC of 44 ng/mL for gabapentin. Our scientific paper on gabapentin was published in 2022.

A similar situation has arisen with the human medication metformin.

Metformin was recognized as a substance transferring to and being detected in racehorses at irrelevant plasma concentrations beginning in 2017. A widely prescribed human anti-diabetic medication, metformin is, like gabapentin, a high-dose medication with the human dose approaching 2.5 grams/ day. Also like gabapentin, metformin is excreted unchanged in urine, such that each human daily dose is rapidly contributed to the environment. When ship-in stalls at Charles Town Races in Charles Town, West Virginia, were swabbed for contaminating medications, metformin was found in two of the 21 stalls tested, one of no fewer than eight human therapeutic medications detected.

We reviewed the scientific literature on metformin and calculated an IPC of 5 ng/mL. One metformin identification was in the area of 4 ng/mL with most of the reported identifications at less than 1 ng/mL. We therefore proposed 5 ng/mL as a regulatory cutoff for metformin in equine plasma and published this proposed regulatory threshold in the refereed scientific literature in 2024.

In the case of dietary exposures, regulatory thresholds can be put in place even when no EPC or IPC is determined simply because these exposures are impossible to avoid. Such was the case with the original theobromine threshold in 1987. Substances like scopolamine, which comes from jimsonweed, and glaucine, which comes from poplar shavings, have had regulatory cutoffs established based on levels achieved in clusters of positives. More recently, our research group has investigated and proposed a regulatory threshold for synephrine. Synephrine is a naturally occurring epinephrine-related substance found in both animals and plants and at significant concentrations in Teff hay. The first synephrine positives in horse racing were called in Australian Thoroughbred racing in Victoria and New South Wales in 2012 and also in harness racing in New South Wales in 2018, with a number of these identifications being attributed to environmental sources as synephrine coming from hay.

Synephrine identifications were subsequently called by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) in show horses in South Africa in 2019, with the testing being performed by the Horseracing Forensic Laboratory in England. The source of these identifications was locally produced South African Teff hay. The hay’s synephrine content is well-known in South African horse racing, where synephrine has been recognized for some time as a Teff hay-driven environmental substance to the point that the South African equine drug testing laboratory has an in-house regulatory cutoff of 50 ng/mL for it in post-race urine samples. We proposed and published 50 ng/mL in urine as an interim regulatory threshold for synephrine in post-race samples in 2022.

Soon after these FEI synephrine identifications in South Africa, a sequence of such identifications was reported in FEI testing of show jumping samples in Mexico and Spain. However, these were adjudicated as “no fault” and “suspension lifted” by the FEI. Consistent with these outcomes, in November 2020 the FEI introduced the concept of an atypical finding (ATF) policy. The requirements for calling an ATF were that there be other identifications of the substance in question from related events, that similar ATFs be found in samples from events in the same region and that samples taken from feed or bedding test positive for the substance in question. All of these criteria were met by these synephrine identifications.

Pemoline, a substance that is apparently naturally occurring but the natural source of which is yet to be identified, was called by HIWU in plasma in Pennsylvania horse racing. Pemoline is a central nervous system-acting compound chemically related to the stimulant aminorex, which at one time was marketed as a human medication but has long since been withdrawn. What was quite unexpected, however, was that our European colleagues had long been

aware that pemoline was routinely identified at low concentrations in European horse urine. They concluded that pemoline was a naturally occurring substance in horse urine and as a result implemented in-house pemoline cutoffs of 5–10 ng/mL in equine urine samples.

We were able to calculate an IPC for pemoline in plasma based on data generated in horses in the 1970s. This value came in at 2 ng/mL, which we communicated to the horseperson involved in the HIWU case. Thereafter, HIWU dropped this pemoline-related matter, and we also published this proposed regulatory cutoff in the refereed scientific literature in 2024.

Modern high-sensitivity drug testing has resulted in an epidemic of pharmacologically irrelevant trace-level AAFs for dietary and environmental substances that have penalized horsemen and women with disqualifications, fines and suspensions.

The severity of penalties for these violations beyond the control of the trainers has squeezed the industry and continues to cast aspersions on the integrity of the sport. It is imperative that the industry adopt thresholds for environmental and dietary substances in order to focus regulation on actual cheating. In identifying and researching the substances causing these trace-level AAFs, we have been able to publish in scientific literature proposed cutoffs for seven substances.

Working with the U.S. Trotting Association and the HBPA affiliates not under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), we are proposing these levels to the Association of Racing Commissioners International for adoption into the model rules. Further, the National HBPA is taking our findings for inclusion in rule recommendations to the Federal Trade Commission under HISA. HJ

In the early years, the sport of horse racing seemed simple. There was no simulcasting, discussion of appropriate marketing strategies, super testing or betting via direct computer links. There was no NTRA, THA, TOC, TOBA, UTTA, AQHA or other organizations representing horsemen’s interests.

Horsemen have a habit of taking care of their own. If someone was sick or down on his luck, they “passed the hat,” taking up collections, which is a time-honored tradition among racetrackers.

It was in 1940 in New England that a group of committed horsemen brought into existence what is now known as the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. From this meager beginning the National HBPA has developed into an organization representing the horsemen’s interests on a myriad of issues.

Today, there are nearly 30,000 owner and trainer members throughout the United States and Canada focused on a common goal—the betterment of racing on all levels.

With this purpose in mind, we welcome and encourage all horsemen to join the National HBPA, and we urge our members to take an active role in the direction and policies of our organization. It is our members who make a difference.

We horsemen are the National HBPA.

We are Leading into the Future and we are…… Horsemen Helping Horsemen

Don’t miss the Claiming Crown’s return to Churchill Downs in 2025, with full fields, big purses and great betting opportunities!

NEW FOR 2025: Churchill Downs will host qualifier for the National Horseplayers Championships on the Claiming Crown card, Saturday, November 15, 2025

Presented by a partnership of the National HBPA and TOBA

For more information, go to www.claimingcrown.com

A Day in the Life…

Ed Vomacka, Racing Secretary at Mahoning Valley Race Course

By Jen Roytz

There are those who come to racing through generational tradition— maybe a parent, grandparent or even relatives further back were horsemen.

Then there are those who fall in love with the sport through an entirely different and quintessentially organic way.

Ed Vomacka falls solidly in the second category. Growing up in Valley Stream, New York, Vomacka didn’t have family involved with horses or horse racing, and the closest he came to the track as a child was driving past nearby Belmont Park and seeing the horses from afar.

NEW YORK NATIVE ED VOMACKA CARVED OUT A LENGTHY CAREER ON THE EVOLVING OHIO RACING SCENE.

Get To Know Ed Vomacka

Hometown Valley Stream, New York

Favorite races he’s seen in person

What do you enjoy doing when not at the track?

“I was lucky enough to watch history be made again and again when I was just a kid in college or soon after going to the track with my buddies. I got to see Secretariat win the Belmont the first time I attended a Thoroughbred race, then went back to watch him beat Riva Ridge in the Marlboro Cup and then to Toronto for his final race. I saw Ruffian break her maiden. I didn’t know much about 2-year-old racing back then, but I knew there was something special about her. I got to see Forego beat Dr. Patches, who ended up being that year’s sprint champion. I remember picking up a Racing Form that day at Grand Central Station on the way to the track and the headline was ‘Forego Makes Seasonal Debut.’ That was a cool day and turned out to be his final win.”

“I enjoy bowling, softball and darts, though I haven’t done any of those in a while. I was never very athletic, but I love watching sports. I’m a big hockey guy, and the New York Rangers are my longtime favorite team, so I try to get down to Columbus whenever the Rangers are in town to play the Blue Jackets. A uniquely special day for me was when Eddie Olczyk brought the Stanley Cup to Belmont. I got to meet him and get my picture taken with the trophy.”

It wasn’t until college that he truly became interested in horse racing. While attending the University of Albany to pursue a degree in economics, Vomacka and his friends would often make the trip down to Elmont to watch and wager on races at Belmont Park or drive 40 or so minutes north to Saratoga Race Course.

“My friends and I would handicap together and visited various Thoroughbred and harness tracks when I was in college in Albany,” Vomacka said. “The first time I ever went to a Thoroughbred racetrack, I saw Secretariat win the Belmont Stakes. That was a heck of an introduction.”

Upon graduation, Vomacka had planned to pursue a career using his economics degree. Instead, he was waiting tables at a local restaurant and handicapping and attending the races with friends whenever he could.

“One of my roommates back then heard about the Race Track Industry Program [RTIP] at the University of Arizona and ended up going out there to pursue it,” Vomacka said. “He pursued an education and eventually built a career in equine law and really enjoyed the program, so I took the plunge and went back to school at the University of Arizona.”

There, Vomacka was introduced to a wide array of career paths he’d never even considered that would pair his academic strengths and skill set with the sport he had grown to love.

Vomacka not only enjoyed his time in the RTIP but also made the most of it, getting placed at the New York Racing Association (NYRA) as part of RTIP’s internship program.

“That internship at NYRA turned into a full-time job, and I ended up not finishing my degree,” he said. “But the education I received and the connections I made with other students who have also gone through the program and on to successful careers in the industry have served me well. I still try to go back for their annual symposium when I can.”

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Ohio’s racing scene has evolved significantly over the years, thanks in large part to the legalization of casino gambling in the state. River Downs was replaced by Boyd Gaming’s Belterra Park; Cleveland’s Thistledown Racetrack is now owned by JACK Entertainment and known as Thistledown Racino; and Grove City’s Beulah Park, which was Ohio’s first racetrack and is now one of its largest walkable residential communities, was replaced on the circuit with Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley.

VOMACKA’S DUTIES INCLUDE WRITING A NEW CONDITION BOOK EVERY THREE OR SO WEEKS, WITH A GOAL OF OFFERING RACING OPTIONS FOR EVERY HORSE ON THE GROUNDS AND OTHER RUNNERS THAT SHIP IN TO MAHONING VALLEY RACE COURSE.

Vomacka navigated this evolution alongside Ohio’s horsemen. He served as the racing secretary for both River Downs and Beulah Park before transitioning into the same role at Mahoning Valley when it opened in 2014.

In most racing jurisdictions, including Ohio, the racing secretary is licensed by the government via the state racing commission. In this role, Vomacka and his team are in charge of writing the condition book, taking entries, ensuring those entries and all related information are reflected accurately in the race program, allocating stalls to horsemen and managing the papers and ownership documents for all horses stabled or racing at Mahoning Valley Race Course. He also maintains a good working relationship with the horsemen at the track to better understand the population of horses for which he’s writing races.

Vomacka typically arrives at the track around 8 a.m. on days entries are taken, and while entries don’t close until the races are full, by 10 a.m. or 10:30 a.m. on most days he’s got his eight races decided on.

“There isn’t a lot of competition around us [to compete with to get entries] during the winter season, which makes this a pretty straightforward and quick process,” Vomacka said. “I usually announce the eight races at 10 a.m. When I announce the eight races that are going, we’ll still get one or two entries for a few that aren’t going, which gives us great insight on which ones to bring back.”

Most of his staff also work as paddock and placing judges, so they leave to take up their positions for the afternoon race card. However, Vomacka’s office is where the claim box is located, so the foot traffic can quickly ramp up.

“My assistant handles the claim box, which is definitely fine with me,” Vomacka joked. “When you have multiple claims and a shake for a horse, it can get crazy. That being said, I’ve seen a trend in recent years with horses retiring earlier rather than trickling down to the bottom claiming levels and changing hands over and over. That’s a result of people taking aftercare more seriously, and I think that’s a good thing, both for the horse and for horse racing. The Ohio HBPA works with several accredited aftercare facilities to help our owners and trainers find opportunities for their horses after racing.”

Vomacka typically writes a new condition book every three or so weeks, with a goal of offering at least one, if not several, racing options for every horse on the backside and the likely-to-ship-in population.

“Having open lines of communication with horsemen is so important in this job,” he said. “You want to offer races for all of the horses in your population at least once every three to four weeks. I need to have a thorough understanding of those horses’ levels, conditions and abilities in order to write races in which they can be competitive and their connections can have a realistic shot at bringing home a check. If a trainer has a horse that hasn’t run in a while or has specific

condition challenges, I want to have that conversation so I can best serve them when writing races.

“That being said, some of these conversations can be hard, like when a trainer thinks their horse is competitive at a certain level and it’s just not,” he continued. “Sometimes it’s a ‘too close to the forest to see the trees’ scenario. I don’t want to offend them, so I’ll encourage them to try different things—try a different distance, a different surface, change something up a bit and see if it moves the horse up.”

As hard as it can be to juggle all of that, horsemen make up just one of the three groups a racing secretary is tasked with serving, according to Vomacka, and the other two can be just as vocal with their criticism if they feel their needs aren’t being met.

“Basically, I have three main groups of people I’m trying to satisfy when writing a condition book,” he said. “You’re trying to serve the horsemen by offering opportunities for their horses to run, you’re trying to satisfy management with full fields, and you’re trying to offer the betting public competitive wagering options. It’s not just about trying to get full fields, though that is definitely part of it. A race of 10 evenly matched horses with no perceivable wagering angles is just frustrating for a bettor, and in this day and age, there are usually other options around the country for them to invest their betting dollars. Even if you have a standout in a race that wins by 10 with four or five others that are competitive, that offers a whole lot of exotic wagering options.”

NOT WITHOUT CHALLENGES

While no job—in racing or otherwise—is free of stress or challenges, the role of a racing secretary, with all they are trying to accomplish and the diversity of those they aim to serve, is complex and not for the faint of heart.

One of the biggest challenges that Vomacka and others in his position around the country deal with on a regular basis is supply and demand when it comes to stalls. A racetrack wants horses on its grounds that are actively competing and competitive. At many tracks, including Mahoning Valley, that is balanced against having more demand for stalls than stalls to allocate.

“Personally, I am hesitant to ask someone to run a horse back sooner than they want to in order to make a race go, and I am definitely not the guy who will ever say, ‘If you don’t run your horse back, I’m taking away your stalls,’ ” he said. “It’s not good for the track, the horsemen and especially for the horse.”

According to Vomacka, the “house rules” at Mahoning Valley are that the maximum number of stalls any trainer can get is 35 and that there are typically five or so trainers who have that many.

“Those trainers with 35 stalls usually have 50 or 60 horses in training and have an overflow farm that they can swap them in and out from,” Vomacka said. “The problem is that there are people with 30 to 35 horses that also want that many stalls. The rule of thumb is that if a horse is stabled at the track, it is going to run roughly one start per condition book. That’s not a hard and fast rule because these are horses and they don’t always adhere to our schedule for them, so that’s where an open line of communication comes in, so the trainer can help me understand what is going on with this horse or that horse. But if I’m seeing a pattern with a certain trainer not running as much as I think he or she should based on how many stalls they have, they’re probably going to lose a few stalls.”

ED VOMACKA (FAR RIGHT) SHARES THE WINNER’S CIRCLE WITH HALL OF FAME TRAINER STEVE ASMUSSEN (SECOND FROM RIGHT), JOCKEY JOSE ORTIZ AND MEMBERS OF CHERYL WHITE’S FAMILY AFTER BENEDETTA WON THE CHERYL S. WHITE MEMORIAL STAKES LAST NOVEMBER AT MAHONING VALLEY.

Another key challenge Vomacka and his counterparts face is the same plight being faced by horsemen, veterinarians and others in this and many other industries—staffing.

“It’s a small pool of people that are experienced to work in an office like this,” he said. “You can bring someone in who’s been around racing and school them a bit to bring them along, but you need the right people to teach them, and those are getting fewer and farther in between. The less people go to the track and get exposed to it in their formative years like I did—unless they actually grew up in a racing family or around horses in general, which is also getting fewer and farther in between—the less that even consider it as a career path. Programs like Arizona’s RTIP and the ROAP [Racing Officials Accreditation Program] are helpful for those wanting to pursue jobs in the racing office or elsewhere in the industry.”

ANALYTICAL MIND

Not everyone can find success as a racing secretary, but for those who do focus on the racing office as a career path, several important personal qualities and professional skills are essential for the job.

“Being an effective communicator and getting along with a lot of different types of people is key,” Vomacka said. “Usually people are pretty polite when they call me, especially if they need stalls or a race, but if someone gets too worked up and it turns rude or profane, I’ll tell them they can just call me back when they can calm down and we can have a more productive conversation.”

He said it’s also important to be open to receiving feedback, whether directly from the source or from a third party. When it’s the latter, he’s found his

working relationship with the Ohio HBPA helpful as sometimes horsemen will voice concerns or criticism more candidly to them than they would directly to him.

“I get that it can be uncomfortable to offer criticism to someone directly, so if the HBPA can act as a sounding board and relay the necessary information, I am fine with that,” Vomacka said. “I just appreciate the feedback because it ultimately helps me help them. Sometimes they’ll point out something I hadn’t realized or considered, and that is really helpful.”

Vomacka said it’s also vitally important to have good analytical skills in his job and credits his economics degree with helping him be a more effective datadriven analytical thinker.

“From the horses in your population to the many conditions you can consider and combine, you have to have the type of brain that can make all of the pieces fit together,” he said.

While he’s seen others in his profession stack conditions onto a race in order to build a field of runners, Vomacka prefers to keep things simple.

“One of the things I try not to do, and I will admit that sometimes it’s simply a function of your horse population, is writing so many conditions into a single race,” he said. “For example, the whole idea of optional claimers with multiple conditions is to get a seven- to eight-horse field, but I find more times than not writing a single condition gets a race to fill better.”

In a career that has spanned more than 40 years, Vomacka said he can’t imagine what life would have been like had he not pivoted from his intended profession in economics and finance to building a career in racing.

“I owe so much of what I’ve accomplished to the guys I worked for and came up under,” he said. “They took a chance on me, and I’d like to think I’ve made the most of it. From those early days in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Illinois and Pennsylvania and even in Arizona to the last 20 or more years in Ohio, I’ve learned something from everyone I’ve worked with, and that’s the way to do it.” HJ

‘Franklin County

Lessons can be learned from the rescue of 13 emaciated horses at a Kentucky farm last December 13’

By Jen Roytz

On December 18, just weeks before Central Kentucky experienced one of the worst winter weather events the area had seen in decades, the Kentucky Humane Society received word that its assistance was needed for seven concerningly thin horses in Franklin County. When members of the organization’s Equine C.A.R.E. (Connect, Assist, Rescue and Educate) team arrived, they found not seven but 13 severely emaciated horses and quickly got to work to secure and remove them.

Six of the 13 horses taken from the property were Thoroughbreds, and seven were Paso Finos. The most notable member of the group was 2015 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf participant and Royal Ascot winner War Envoy. A Kentucky-bred who raced in Europe and the U.S., War Envoy was last owned by Ruis Racing and retired to stud in 2017 with $494,781 in earnings and six stakes placings. War Envoy stood at stud in California and then Pennsylvania before returning to Kentucky in 2019 to WenMick Farm, owned by Mick Ruis Sr., the horse’s last trainer of record. According to The Jockey Club records, that was the last season he was bred (covering seven mares). Wen-Mick Farm sold in 2024, and Ruis told multiple outlets that he gave War Envoy away to what he thought was a good home.

Now dubbed the “Franklin County 13,” the horses were severely malnourished, kept in small enclosures with no access to food, water or shelter and standing in mud up to their fetlocks. One, a gray Paso Fino stallion, was found locked in a trailer, likely for days if not longer, eating his own feces in an effort to recycle any digestible nutrients.

The horses were taken to the Kentucky Humane Society’s Willow Hope Farm, where their team has been carefully managing their condition.

“The ‘Franklin 13’ are doing well,” Kentucky Humane Society Equine Manager Olivia Dixon said in late February. “Some faced more significant challenges than others, including arriving in an emaciated state and in need of careful refeeding, cellulitis triggered by skin disease, skin abscesses, hospitalization due to mobility issues from starvation, unbalanced and neglected hooves, internal parasites, sharp points on teeth due to neglected dental needs and untreated gastric ulcers.”

Several of the horses were intact males, which will be castrated, including one cryptorchid.

“[The cryptorchid] will need to go in for full anesthesia for abdominal surgery, and we are awaiting the condition of one other horse to improve enough to be safely sedated for castration,” said Dixon.

Refeeding a severely malnourished horse is a delicate exercise, as their gastrointestinal system easily can become overwhelmed, leading to colic and other complications. Starved horses are also severely depleted in electrolytes, which play a critical role in organ and other bodily functions. Adding too many concentrated calories—including electrolytes—too quickly can lead to refeeding syndrome, a potentially fatal condition that can cause diarrhea, weakness, neurological symptoms and more.

The Kentucky Humane Society staff has been working closely with veterinarians to implement refeeding protocols based on each horse’s age and condition. One horse, a 3-year-old Thoroughbred colt registered as Mischief Humor, who was said to be in the worst condition of the 13 horses rescued, was transferred to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital roughly a week after arriving at Willow Hope Farm, as the process of reintroducing and digesting food left his body so weak he was unable to stand. After being kept in a climate-controlled stall and in a sling at the clinic, he was eventually able to get up and down on his own and returned to Willow Hope Farm in mid-January.

ENVOY,

NEXT STEPS

For the horses who appear to be best served by full retirement due to physical or behavioral issues, a long-term safe retirement or sanctuary home will be sought for them.

The advent of microchips has made the challenge of identifying horses in abuse and neglect cases significantly easier in recent years. In addition to War Envoy and Mischief Humor, the other Thoroughbreds identified in the group included Specific Vow (3-yearold filly), Handsome Todd (7-year-old horse), Primela (9-year-old mare) and a 4-year-old unregistered/unnamed filly out of the mare Tiz Fair. The 4-year-old filly was in the best body condition of any horse on the property and assumed to have been a fairly recent acquisition.

“Kentucky Humane Society’s goal for all horses that come into our care is for all who are capable to eventually find excellent adopters where they are well-suited,” Dixon said. “The Franklin 13 are all equally deserving of proper care and a home of their own. Those who are young will likely be adoptable soonest to approved homes with the experience to raise a youngster properly. Some who are emaciated but have a known history of riding will be evaluated for soundness and suitability to return to riding as their physical condition improves enough to start back to training and riding.”

Dixon added that for those who appear to be best served by full retirement due to physical or behavioral issues, a long-term safe retirement or sanctuary home will be sought for them. Until then, the horses will remain at Willow Hope Farm as they continue to recover.

While there is an open criminal investigation into the individuals involved in this specific case, there is much to be gleaned from this and other similar scenarios involving retired racehorses and breeding stock.

THE “FRANKLIN COUNTY 13” INCLUDED SPECIFIC VOW, AN UNRACED 3-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER OF SABURO AND ONE OF SIX IDENTIFIABLE THOROUGHBREDS FOUND IN POOR HEALTH ON A KENTUCKY FARM.

TAKEAWAYS

The plight of the Franklin County 13 highlights the need for responsible rehoming. For those in the Thoroughbred industry, this includes racing stock and breeding stock.

Some simple yet critical steps horse owners can take when rehoming their horses include:

• Schedule time to fairly assess each horse’s suitability for their job at every stage of their career.

• Do your due diligence to vet any private individual or nonprofit entity to which you sell, give away or donate your horse. This includes asking for references and about how they care for their horses, what veterinarian and farrier they use and what their intended use will be for the horse. If possible, ask for current pictures of the horses and facility, or do a site visit (or ask someone knowledgeable to do so).

• Use a contract or bill of sale that includes the full name and contact information for both parties involved in the transaction and require updates on the horse ideally in the first month, at six months and at a year, if not more frequently, and make sure the person receiving the horse is aware of this requirement.

• Have a plan and be proactive. When possible, do not wait until a horse is facing hasty decisions or a poor outcome and needing to be rehomed quickly in a pinch.

The plight of the Franklin County 13 highlights the need for responsible rehoming.

• Trust your gut. It is tougher to quantify but equally important. If your senses are telling you that the person or even organization in question seems deceptive, hasty or inadequately experienced or educated, or if there is just something telling you not to send the horse in question down a particular path, trust in your own judgment or at least look into the situation further.

Reputable nonprofit aftercare organizations, including those accredited by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (which lists all of its accredited aftercare organizations on its website at thoroughbredaftercare.org), have these and other protective protocols built into their adoption process, as do many reputable private resellers.

“No rehoming organization or nonprofit can guarantee to take in every horse at any time unless they euthanize for space, but any good nonprofit dedicated to the good of the horse, or any industry professional worth their salt, should be happy to talk with you when considering moving forward with placing a horse,” Dixon said. “If they don’t have space for your horse at that moment, they should help you to network and/or discuss all available options for the good of the horse. An ounce of prevention may be worth a pound of cure, as nobody wants to learn that a horse once in their care has ended up in a terrible situation.”

HJ

ILLINOIS HORSEMEN

• Purse increases in 2025

• Open year around with stalls available

• Casino coming April 2025

• We offer Backside Dorms, Kitchen and RV Hookups

• We have Benevolence for Dental, Medical, Burial, Eye Care and Employee Assistance

• Social Activities, Family Events and Horsemen’s Services

ALABAMA HBPA

ALABAMA RACING OFF TO GOOD START

Live-Lee Farm’s Dromas won the $50,000 Alabama Winter Overnight Stakes January 31 at Delta Downs, the first Alabama-bred race of 2025. Dromas won the 7-furlong event for 3-year-olds and up by a length over Jovie G with Unaffiliated third and Channelfortynine fourth.

Dromas, a 4-year-old colt by Divide and Conquer out of the Yes It’s True mare Vidi Vici, was bred by Dennis and Mary Ellen “Sam” Murphy and is trained by Sherman Savoie.

Congratulations to the connections of Dromas.

In support of the Alabama races being run at Louisiana tracks, the Louisiana HBPA has committed $100,000 in funding to be spread among the purse distributions for the above and future Alabama-bred races. The following races are scheduled through the fall:

April 5—$35,000 Alabama HBPA-sponsored Ken Cotton Open at 7 furlongs on dirt, Evangeline Downs

May 10—$50,000 Buggin Out Stakes at 61/2 furlongs on dirt (non-winners of a $50,000 Alabama stakes), Evangeline Downs

June 22—$50,000 Yellow Hammer Stakes at 1 mile on turf (non-winners of two $50,000 Alabama stakes), Louisiana Downs

August 23—$50,000 Alabama Cotton State Stakes at 1 mile on dirt (non-winners of three $50,000 Alabama stakes), Evangeline Downs

All races will be listed in the respective track condition books with no nomination forms necessary. Details for another $50,000 race to be run in October and the annual Magic City Classic at Fair Grounds will be announced when finalized.

All races will pay out purse monies at 2% to horses finishing sixth and out. The balance will be distributed with 60% to first, 20% to second, 10% to third, 7% to fourth and 3% to fifth.

The April 5 Ken Cotton will cover transportation costs up to $500 for horses finishing fifth and out. Copies of gas or hauling bills should be sent to nancy.m.delony@ms.com. All other races sponsored by the Birmingham Racing Commission cover all entrants finishing first through last.

Contact Leda Dimperio at leda@mindspring.com or text or call (205) 937-2232 to receive the needed forms for reimbursement of Birmingham Racing Commission-sponsored race expenses.

The Alabama Legislature headed into session at press time. It will be interesting to see if and what type of gaming legislation comes up during the session. With the Porch Creek Indians’ purchase of the Birmingham Race Course and Casino and their other gambling sites around the state, they certainly will play an important role. If the bill is once again introduced without the inclusion of “horse racing,” we will most definitely unite with all horsemen in Alabama to vote no.

Nancy Delony Alabama HBPA Executive Director

ARIZONA

HBPA

TURF PARADISE OPENS AFTER HISA-FORCED DELAY

After a short delay to the start of the Turf Paradise 2024–25 meeting, we are off and running. HISA decided to do an inspection of the main dirt track the week before we opened and decided it wasn’t ready for racing. The start of the meet was delayed from November 2 until November 11.

After some minor renovation to the track’s surface, we were cleared by HISA to begin the meet. HISA did encourage Jerry Simms to lease four new tractors and three new water trucks and to purchase a new pump for the well and an additional cutting harrow and rototiller. That equipment was needed at Turf Paradise and has helped keep the track safe for equine and human athletes.

BASKETBALL LEGEND DR. J WAS ON HAND FOR THE NATIONAL THOROUGHBRED LEAGUE’S YEAR-END CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT DECEMBER 30 AT TURF PARADISE.

I admit the ability to bring the track up to the level of HISA’s safety standards and pressuring Simms into getting new equipment is one of the positives of HISA. Due to the HISA concerns with Turf Paradise’s safety issues, the Arizona Racing Commission has only granted the track temporary status on its permit renewal. The first permit was for 45 days. When that ended January 24, the commission voted to grant another 45-day temporary permit. The temporary permits leave everyone in Arizona racing in limbo and uncertain of the future of racing. The next commission meeting was scheduled for March 7.

The Arizona HBPA held its annual Thanksgiving dinner for more than 300 horsemen and horsewomen and their families November 22. Thanks to Connie and her staff for serving a delicious turkey and ham dinner with all the fixings.

The National Thoroughbred League (NTL) decided to hold its year-end championship at Turf Paradise December 30 in conjunction with the Fiesta Bowl. The Fiesta Bowl served as host to the college football playoff game between Penn State and Boise State. The NTL promoted its championship with the teams from the Fiesta Bowl. Turf Paradise and NTL had more than 1,500 Boise State football fans at Turf Paradise for the championship.

NTL had several celebrities on hand, including one of the team owners in Julius “Dr. J” Erving. Dr. J is the owner of the NTL’s Philadelphia franchise. The NTL has 10 franchises around the country with 10 different owners. Dr. J also participated in a meet-and-greet during the afternoon and signed lots of autographs.

NTL hoped to paint the stretch of the turf course blue to match Boise State’s football field. There was debate over whether horses were color blind or not and whether horses would shy when they reached the stretch and saw the color change of the turf course to blue. It was decided to not paint the stretch. We had a very large crowd for Turf Paradise on a Monday afternoon, and fun was had by all.

As a reminder, the state of Arizona will not share your contact information with the HBPA. You must contact our office to update your contact information to be included in our mailings and updates. Send that information to azhbpa@outlook.com.

Leroy Gessmann

Arizona HBPA Executive Director

ARKANSAS HBPA

RING THE BELL AT YOUR RACETRACK

While attending the Saratoga sale last August, Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning congratulated me on the success of our Ring the Bell program. Then he shared an idea that would take it even further: “You guys need to find a way to let more people get involved. Why not allow sales companies, van companies, clinics and other businesses that benefit from these horses to sponsor specific days?”

Intrigued, I asked him what that might look like.

“A company, individual or anyone who wants to contribute can choose a day,” he explained. “Whatever funds are generated from the bell ringing on that day they match.”

The timing couldn’t have been better. That morning, after training, I had a phone meeting with our organization about our dwindling funds.

Without hesitation, Fasig-Tipton stepped up. They selected one of the biggest racing weekends of the year to sponsor, Rebel Stakes Day, committing to match every dollar raised during that weekend and setting a powerful example for others to follow.

Since then, more businesses and individuals have joined the movement. Coady Media, the track photography team who has always been eager to help, became our first corporate sponsor and matched all funds raised from the bell on opening weekend. Others, including David Ingordo and many more, have stepped up to help us expand awareness and support for aftercare.

We’ve already had enormous support from horsemen. Nearly 100% step up when they win. This idea has opened the door for anyone who benefits from horse racing to give back. Whether you are part of a sales company, van company, veterinary clinic, magazine, tote company or even a bettor who wants to contribute, there’s now a simple and meaningful way to support the horses that make this sport possible.

If you or your business would like to sponsor and match the bell on a race day at Oaklawn, please reach out to me, Jeanette Milligan of the Arkansas HBPA or any of the volunteers at the Arkansas Thoroughbred Retirement Program (501-623-7641).

If your local track doesn’t have the bell ringing yet, ask them why. It takes absolutely nothing away from anything they’re already doing and only gives horsemen that choose to ring another avenue to help. Tell them you want to bring awareness and funding to the horses that race in your area. Let’s make a difference together.

—Ron Moquett

COLD DAY, HOT CHILI

The Arkansas HBPA and Oaklawn Park came together in late January to show appreciation for the dedicated and hard-working horsemen and women of the backside by offering hot, hearty chili in the track kitchen.

CHARLES TOWN HBPA

CHARLES TOWN HBPA ANNOUNCES

2025–27 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Charles Town HBPA recently conducted an election for the 2025–27 board of directors. James F. Miller was reelected president, with the following individuals completing the board:

Owners

Michelle Johnson

Karen Freer

John Funkhouser

Naomi Long

Tony Stehr

Alternates: Antonio Delgado and Jason Gray

Trainers/Owner-Trainers

Ronney Brown

Timothy Grams

Michael Jones

Kevin Joy

Jeffrey Runco

Alternates: Anthony Lucas and John C. Carlisle

PAUL ESPINOSA APPOINTED RACING COMMISSION CHAIR

After representing Jefferson County as a delegate in the state legislature since 2012, Paul Espinosa has returned to his family roots: horse racing. He was tapped to fill Ken Lowe’s seat on the West Virginia Racing Commission in October and appointed chair at the commission’s January 27 meeting. With family roots deep in the community and in Thoroughbred racing, Espinosa brings a deep understanding of the challenges of the racing industry. Congratulations to Paul on his appointment.

CHARLES TOWN HBPA INSURANCE SIGN-UP

The Charles Town HBPA partnered with West Virginia Navigator in December to enable horsemen to sign up for low- to no-cost health insurance for themselves and their families. With all appointments booked at the first event, the Charles Town HBPA scheduled a second session and hopes to make this an annual event to assist horsemen who otherwise might be without coverage.

EYE CLINIC SCHEDULED

The Charles Town Horsemen’s Assistance Fund is sponsoring an eye clinic with the Appalachian Vision Outreach Program April 24-25. A highly anticipated program, the eye clinic provided free eyeglasses to more than 100 people at the last event. Charles Town horsemen interested in participating should contact the Charles Town HBPA at info@cthbpa.com to schedule an appointment.

FLORIDA THOROUGHBRED HORSEMEN

GULFSTREAM ORGANIZATION REJOINS NATIONAL HBPA

The horsemen’s organization representing Thoroughbred owners and trainers at Gulfstream Park rejoined the National HBPA as an affiliate in early March.

The National HBPA board unanimously approved readmitting the organization currently called Florida Thoroughbred Horsemen. Known as the Florida HBPA for years, the South Florida group left the National HBPA in 2019.

“Our full board had serious discussions about the request of the South Florida horsemen to return as an affiliate,” said National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback. “Everyone seemed very encouraged and felt as if now would be the time for them to return because of the ongoing issues in Florida. Our board members are convinced there is strength in numbers and working together is the best way to assist not only individual state affiliates but horsemen across the country.”

Gulfstream Park has horsemen who race at the Hallandale Beach track year-round as well as those who ship their stables south for the four-month winter season. Horsemen there became alarmed when Gulfstream Park’s ownership announced it was pushing decoupling legislation that would allow the track to keep its gaming licenses without the current requirement to conduct live horse racing.

The Gulfstream horsemen’s association is under new leadership since the decoupling issue exploded in early January, when a track ownership representative told horsemen the track would race three more years if the horsemen didn’t fight the decoupling legislation and could close sooner if they did object. The Gulfstream representative said the track wants to build a casino and hotel on the property.

OAKLAWN BACKSTRETCH WORKERS WARM UP WITH SOME HEARTY CHILI THIS WINTER.

Horse owner Tom Cannell now is the Florida Thoroughbred Horsemen’s president, with fellow owners Adam Lazarus and Chester Bishop the vice presidents. The organization has more than 5,000 members, Cannell said.

“Since the decoupling issue has hit the fan, we thought it was in our best interest to be under the umbrella of a national group,” he said. “We were members of the HBPA for years. We decided … that if the opportunity presented itself, we’d look to get back into the HBPA. We’re looking forward to participating. Anything National would like of us, all they have to do is pick up the phone and call. We certainly respect Eric and the group. We share a lot of the same views. It just felt right to rejoin.”

The South Florida horsemen would bring the number of National HBPA affiliates in the U.S. to 24 in addition to five in Canada. Coincidentally, the annual HBPA conference was held in late February in Safety Harbor, near Tampa. Among the affiliates is Tampa Bay Downs HBPA, which is the representative for owners and trainers at the Oldsmar track and is separate from the Gulfstream horsemen’s association.

Cannell and Bishop attended the HBPA conference at Hamelback’s invitation. The National HBPA’s full board approved the Florida Thoroughbred Horsemen’s membership at its meeting on February 27.

The National HBPA was the first national organization to join the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association (FTBOA) in actively working to defeat decoupling legislation, which is House Bill 105 in the Florida House and Senate Bill 408 in the Florida Senate. The National HBPA, FTBOA and Tampa Bay Downs HBPA quickly signed on with the Thoroughbred Racing Initiative (TRI), an industry collaborative created in February to provide funds and resources for protecting live racing, starting with South Florida. The Gulfstream Park horsemen joined TRI soon thereafter.

IOWA

HBPA

PRAIRIE MEADOWS’ 2025 RACING SEASON

Horsemen, it’s that time of year when we look forward to seeing everyone back for racing here in the great state of Iowa.

Our racing calendar for 2025 includes a full 80 racing days for Thoroughbreds. In addition, we’ll offer up to 600 racing opportunities with more than $18 million in total available purses for 2025.

The backside will open in early April with the first day of training set shortly after.

Thank you to Prairie Meadows for working with the Iowa HBPA in getting our 2025 racing season scheduled, and we look forward to seeing our horsemen here soon.

HORSEMEN INFORMATION

Condition Book No. 1, Thoroughbred stall applications, the 2025 Thoroughbred meet live racing calendar, the training schedule and hours and other racing-related documents can be found on Prairie Meadows’ website under the Horsemen’s Info tab and in print at Prairie Meadows’ racing office. We also have some information posted on our Iowa HBPA Facebook page and the Iowa HBPA website at iowahbpa.org.

2025 IOWA HBPA SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

May 8: Iowa HBPA general membership meeting

May 9: Opening day of the Prairie Meadows meet

May 10: Annual Iowa HBPA Awards held in conjunction with the Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association Awards

July 4-5: Iowa Festival of Racing showcasing graded stakes

September 27: Iowa Classics Night featuring Iowa-bred stakes

IOWA HBPA OFFICE HOURS AND INFORMATION

Until the meet opens, our normal office hours will be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Once the meet begins May 9, we will have the office available six or seven days a week, with normal hours beginning at 9 a.m. and going till 3 p.m. We can be reached at (515) 967-4804.

To see information about the Iowa HBPA, please visit our website at iowahbpa.org. To keep up to date on news and issues occurring in Iowa, you can find us on our Facebook page, Iowa Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, Inc.; follow us on Twitter @IowaHBPA; or sign up to receive our emails at info@iowahbpa.org.

We look forward to seeing the return of our horsemen, including familiar and new faces.

KENTUCKY HBPA

STRONG SPRING SEASON ON TAP

As winter gives way to spring, Kentucky racing is stronger than ever, and there’s no better place to compete. Whether you’ve been grinding through the cold at Turfway Park or are making your way back for the spring meetings at Keeneland and Churchill Downs, we’re excited to welcome you for what promises to be a historic season.

Turfway’s winter-spring meet has been thriving thanks to competitive racing, strong purses and a record-setting $777,000, Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks March 22—the richest race in Turfway history.

Spring racing in Kentucky is as lucrative as ever. Keeneland officials anticipate a 10% to 12% purse increase, with maiden special weights for Kentucky-breds set to offer $110,000. The stakes program will feature a record $16.9 million in purses, highlighted by a boost to the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes, now worth $1.25 million.

At Churchill, purses remain sky-high, with maiden special weights expected to be $120,000. The stakes program has been bolstered as well, with nine races recently upgraded by the American Graded Stakes Committee. Among them, the American Turf has been elevated to a Grade 1, adding even more prestige to Kentucky Derby Week.

As Churchill prepares for the return of horses and readies the backside for another incredible season, we want to extend our gratitude to everyone who kept the sport thriving through the winter at Turfway Park.

Whether you’re a longtime competitor or returning for the spring, Kentucky racing is where you want to be, and we’re looking forward to an unforgettable year ahead.

Dale Romans Kentucky HBPA President

KYHBPA CELEBRATES DONNA DAVIS

Donna Davis, one of the longest-serving employees in the history of the Kentucky HBPA, retired at the end of 2024.

As field office manager at Turfway Park and Ellis Park, Davis took care of thousands of horsemen’s needs for just shy of 30 years since starting with the Kentucky HBPA in 1995. She held a joint post with the Kentucky Racing Health and Welfare Fund for much of that time. The fund assists those working in racing with certain medical bills.

Davis called working for the Kentucky HBPA “really the best time of my life” but that she needed to prioritize being closer to and helping her parents in Petersburg, Indiana. Her fiancé also lives in the Evansville area.

“Of course I do,” she said when asked if she misses the track. “Especially at Turfway, because I was in the racing office. So I was basically with the same people over all these years. They were family. And the people on the track I helped, they were family I didn’t have up [at Turfway]. I really miss the staff at Health and

Welfare. Both places were extremely good to me. The relationships I made with people I’ll never forget.”

Reflecting the world, horse racing has changed dramatically during Davis’ three decades of service. When technology virtually eliminated some of her work tasks, the emergence of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority’s myriad online paperwork and rules created new ones.

“It ended differently than when we first started,” Davis said. “We had so many horsemen on the grounds back then; nobody had a computer at that time. If they needed any kind of chart of horses, faxing, photocopying, they’d come in, and I usually was the one to do it. Just anything the guys needed done and they couldn’t do on their own. They had barely started having cell phones back then. We always had to have condition books stocked for them and overnights from different tracks printed out. Or if we had to write something for them such as a letter. Most of those guys were traveling all the time, so they didn’t have access to computers or fax machines. There were a lot of things they needed done but couldn’t do, and we did it for them.

“When HISA came around, I helped some of them do [the online requirements],” she continued. “The biggest part of my job ended up being with the Kentucky Racing Health and Welfare Fund. That was one of the most rewarding parts. I’d help people get access to medical things. Did the paperwork for them. Had to speak for them sometimes.”

Davis grew up on a Southern Indiana farm not far from Ellis Park.

“My dad, Fred McCrary, was an oilman,” she said. “He had a neighbor who had been a trainer and a jockey years and years ago. He talked my dad into going to Ellis Park one day—that was back in the 1970s—and he fell in love with racehorses since that day. He thought he’d just buy one horse, and that turned into about 30.”

Donna fell in love with racing, too, and began helping out with her dad’s horses. She found herself at Turfway Park and moving to northern Kentucky with former husband Joe Davis in the late 1980s. While her day job was working at the nearby Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky International Airport, Donna found herself frequently interacting with the Kentucky HBPA. When her predecessor retired, Marty Maline (the Kentucky HBPA’s inaugural executive director who retired two years ago after 47 years in the post) asked her to fill the position.

Davis’ job description became making sure stuff got done. That included working closely with the track chaplains, assisting in Turfway’s backstretch Christmas party, helping with board elections and, of course, the never-ending need for racetrackers requiring assistance with medical bills.

“Donna is one of those priceless people who just helped people and helped make things work,” said Bill Connelly, who interacted with Davis for many years as a trainer and then the past few worked alongside her as the Kentucky HBPA’s Turfway-based field representative. “Horsemen and their employees will still be helped and things will still work, but Donna certainly made them work seamlessly and cheerfully.”

Kentucky HBPA Executive Director Alex Foley agreed.

“Everybody loves Donna,” Foley said. “We hated to see her go, but she certainly deserves her retirement. We just hope we’ll still see that smile back at the track on occasion.”

That seems likely. Davis said she’ll miss what she’s long called “a dream job.” But there is one perk: Davis had to stay back manning the office when special events at Turfway and Ellis Park were going on. Look for her to stop by—if not actually pitching in to work—events at Ellis such as Kentucky HBPA College Day or the popular wiener/corgi dog races.

“Erin told me, ‘Any time you want to help …’ ” Davis said of Erin McElwee, Ellis Park’s director of racing, facilities and simulcast operations. “If I’m around and not doing anything, I sure will be there.”

—Jennie Rees

KENTUCKY’S 2024 ECLIPSE AWARD WINNERS

The Kenny McPeek-trained Kentucky Oaks winner Thorpedo Anna, whose career started in 2023 with victories at Keeneland and Churchill Downs, joined Hall of Famer Rachel Alexandra (2009) as the only 3-year-old fillies to win Horse of the Year. Thorpedo Anna, also the Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner, was a rare horse to be voted a unanimous champion, taking all 208 first-place votes for champion 3-year-old filly. Her 193 first-place votes as Horse of the Year dwarfed the 10 for 3-year-old male champion Sierra Leone and five for 2023 champion 2-year-old male and 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic runner-up Fierceness. McPeek, who became only the third trainer to sweep the Kentucky Oaks and Derby (the latter with Mystik Dan), finished second to five-time winner Chad Brown for the Eclipse Award as North America’s outstanding trainer, the 101-88 vote the closest of any human category.

Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone, who also captured Keeneland’s Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes and was runner-up in the Kentucky Derby, is coowned by Louisvillian Brook T. Smith.

Idiomatic, repeat champion as older filly or mare, and unbeaten 2-year-old filly champ Immersive gave Kentucky-based trainer Brad Cox his 11th and 12th equine Eclipse Award wins, all since 2018. A striking five of his seven individual equine champions have won two trophies, either in different years (Idiomatic, Monomoy Girl, Essential Quality) or in the same year (Covfefe, Horse of the Year Knicks Go). Cox himself is a two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer (2020–21).

Erik Asmussen, the son of Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen who spent a good part of the year riding in Kentucky, was handily voted champion apprentice jockey—an award earned in 1979 by his uncle Cash Asmussen. Erik Asmussen led all apprentices in 2024 with 127 victories and more than $5 million in purse earnings, highlighted by Gulfport’s win in Churchill Downs’ $300,000 Bet On Sunshine Stakes for his father.

Lexington-based Godolphin came away with its eighth outstanding owner title and fifth outstanding breeder crown. Every equine winner (nine of 11) except Irish-bred Rebel’s Romance (male turf) and Canadian-bred Moira (female turf) was bred in Kentucky.

—Jennie Rees

THE HBPA IS YOU

The HBPA, established in 1940, is an organization of owners and trainers, approximately 40,000 nationally in 23 states and Canada and more than 6,000 in Kentucky. The association is governed by a board of directors consisting of owners and trainers volunteering their time and elected by the membership every three years. The HBPA is committed to working for the betterment of racing on all levels. The HBPA represents owners and trainers on several fronts:

• The HBPA negotiates with each racetrack regarding purse structure, equitable share of simulcast revenues, overall track safety, sanitation and security.

• The HBPA provides benevolence to horsemen in need, education and recreation programs to the backstretch and various insurance packages that include—free of charge to members—fire and disaster insurance. Visit one of the fully staffed HBPA offices at the currently running racetrack in Kentucky for details.

• The HBPA works in conjunction with the chaplaincy program and the Kentucky Racing Health and Welfare Fund to provide support and benefits for horsemen.

• The HBPA supports scientific research and marketing initiatives on a regional and national level to help promote interest in Thoroughbred racing.

• The HBPA is at the forefront in litigation and legislation on issues involving horsemen’s rights with regards to interstate simulcasting, proprietary rights, casino gambling, therapeutic medication, sports betting and many other areas of concern to horsemen.

HOW CAN I JOIN?

You are invited to drop into the HBPA office to meet the staff and learn more about current projects and how you can get involved in helping to improve the industry. There are no membership fees. Remember that this is your organization. Become an active participant and one of the “horsemen helping horsemen.” To join, all you need to do is fill out our membership card and fax, mail or email it back to us. For more information, please visit our website at kyhbpa.org and click on “Become a Member.”

ITBOA Fall Sale

August 28, 2025

Iowa State Fairgrounds, Des Moines, IA

CLOSING: June 20, 2025

Late consignments accepted until August 1, 2025

Consignment contracts available at www.iowathoroughbred.com itboa@msn.com or 800-577-1097 for more information

DALE ROMANS (RIGHT), RECENTLY APPOINTED TO THE KENTUCKY HORSE RACING & GAMING CORP., AND FORMER KENTUCKY SENATOR DAMON THAYER CHECK OUT SOME TREATS AT ROCKING DELICIOUS CANDY SHOP IN SAFETY HARBOR, FLORIDA, THE WEEK OF THE NATIONAL HBPA CONFERENCE.

ROMANS JOINS KENTUCKY REGULATORY BODY

Kentucky HBPA President Dale Romans has been appointed to the Kentucky Horse Racing & Gaming Corp., formerly the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, by Gov. Andy Beshear.

The official announcement came from the governor’s office in a February 28 list of appointments to various boards and commissions. While Romans replaces William Riddle, who resigned from his term expiring April 27, the expectation is that Romans will be appointed for a full term.

“Hopefully, I bring some horsemen’s views to the commission; follow up on my friends Bob Stallings and Frank Jones,” Romans said. “When they were on there, they always spoke for horsemen. I want to be the commissioner they used to be.”

Jones, who died in 2023, was an owner and breeder and spent many years serving as the owner’s vice president for the Kentucky HBPA. Stallings, a horse owner, died in 2010.

LOUISIANA HBPA

DELTA DOWNS

The 2025 Quarter Horse meeting at Delta Downs begins April 25 and ends July 12, featuring the Lee Berwick Futurity on closing day. The Futurity has an estimated purse of $700,000 for the 2025 edition. The July 12 card will feature Louisiana-bred races including the Delta Derby and Oaks. The July 12 card will have eight stakes totaling more than $1.1 million in purses. The Firecracker Futurity will be contested July 4 with a purse of $100,000-added, and the Firecracker Derby will be run for $75,000. For additional information, contact the Delta Downs racing office at (888) 589-7223.

EVANGELINE DOWNS

The 2025 Thoroughbred meet at Evangeline Downs begins April 2 and ends August 23. Louisiana Legends night will be June 7 with six Louisiana-bred stakes for more than $600,000 in purses. The Shine Young races, with a $60,000-guaranteed filly division and colts/gelding division, are scheduled for August 1 (fillies) and August 2 (colts and geldings). For a complete stakes schedule, visit the Evangeline Downs website at evdracing.com. For additional information, contact the Evangeline Downs racing office at (337) 594-3022.

LOUISIANA DOWNS

The 2025 Louisiana Downs Thoroughbred meet begins May 3 and concludes September 25. The meet features Louisiana Cup Day August 30 with six Louisiana-bred stakes races for more than $350,000 in purses. The Louisiana Super Derby will be contested Saturday, September 6, with an estimated purse of $250,000. In a nod to our friends in Alabama, Louisiana Downs will host the $50,000 Yellow Hammer Stakes for Alabama-breds June 22. For additional information, contact the Louisiana Downs racing office at (318) 741-2511.

MINNESOTA HBPA

EXCITEMENT FOR REVAMPED CANTERBURY

When the Canterbury Park stable area opens in May, many will no doubt do a doubletake on all that’s been completed since October.

There will be a new trackside restaurant and entertainment venue overlooking the far turn as well as new restaurants just across the street from Canterbury’s backstretch. And the one-of-a-kind amphitheater will be ready to begin hosting A-list performers come July 1.

Throughout this coming summer, hundreds of thousands of new visitors will be introduced to Canterbury Park. Those who live in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro area and have never been to Canterbury Park will be pleasantly surprised. Not only will they see a unique village of restaurants, clubs, residences, stores and even a school for toddlers but they’ll also notice just how easy and quick Canterbury is to get to from any part of the metro area. The vast majority

of visitors will be from within 15 to 30 minutes of the facility.

What makes the development so special is that it is anchored by Thoroughbred racing at Canterbury Park. The meet begins May 24 and runs through September 20. For those with families, the exceptional Furlong Learning program, founded by Minnesota’s own Meghan Riley, is back for its fifth year. There are classes, tutoring, art instruction and fairs, mentorships, visits to museums and zoos, a soccer league, a children’s gardening project and a farmers’ market. The program began five years ago with one child being tutored. This number has risen to more than 50 children and adults (who are seeking educational assistance) annually.

The chaplaincy program also has expanded. After the weekly services, a meal follows, often featuring a food native to some of the racing community and prepared by them as well. Every month there is a backside breakfast cooked outside by volunteers from the chapel, Minnesota HBPA, Canterbury Park and even the stewards. Fiestas with food and music are hosted throughout the meet. There is also mental health counseling provided by Abijah’s Hope, an equine-based psychotherapy program utilizing retired racehorses. Founded by Chaplain Sally Mixon, Abijah’s has found great support on both sides of the aisle in St. Paul.

By the time the meet opens in May, the 2025 Minnesota legislative session will have concluded. As of this writing, there is cautious optimism that a sports betting bill will be passed that greatly benefits Thoroughbred racing. Late in the 2024 session, all major stakeholders, from the horsepersons to the tribes to the racetracks, agreed on legislation that would have increased purses by 75%. The session ended before all the procedural steps for passage had been completed. Stay tuned for what could be an exceptional meet (and future) for Minnesota Thoroughbred racing.

THE FURLONG LEARNING PROGRAM, FOUNDED BY MEGHAN RILEY, RETURNS FOR ITS FIFTH YEAR IN 2025. THE PROGRAM OFFERS CLASSES, TUTORING, ART INSTRUCTION AND FAIRS, MENTORSHIPS, VISITS TO MUSEUMS AND ZOOS, A SOCCER LEAGUE, A CHILDREN’S GARDENING PROJECT AND A FARMERS’ MARKET FOR BACKSTRETCH WORKERS AND THEIR CHILDREN.

ADDITIONS, CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS WHEN CANTERBURY PARK REOPENS IN MAY WILL INCLUDE A NEW AMPHITHEATER AND A TRACKSIDE RESTAURANT AND ENTERTAINMENT VENUE OVERLOOKING THE FAR TURN.

BREEDING INDUSTRY EYES BRIGHT FUTURE

Thanks to an influx of new stakeholders, new stallions and renewed energy, the Massachusetts Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry is experiencing a reversal of fortune.

“The equine industry in Massachusetts is thriving,” said Emily Wilmot, who at age 29 is a newcomer to breeding Thoroughbreds and is the owner and operator of Iron Will Farm in her hometown of Middleboro. “Part of it is the popularity of the TV series Yellowstone. I see it with people who suddenly have this interest [in horses].”

While Wilmot’s theory is unverified, what is certain is that members of the Massachusetts Thoroughbred Breeders Association (MTBA), which lists 18 active breeding and foaling farms on its website, report an uptick in foaling and in sales. They are convinced this revival heralds a brighter future.

The industry suffered a huge hit after Rockingham Park in New Hampshire ended live Thoroughbred racing in 2002 and the curtain came down on meets held at Suffolk Downs in Massachusetts for the final time in 2019. Those two tracks were the last of the 17 Thoroughbred racing venues that once dotted the New England region and had supported a vibrant breeding industry.

Meanwhile, officials of the New England affiliate of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association have steadfastly lobbied the Massachusetts executive branch and lawmakers for relief to protect horsemen and open green spaces.

Those efforts paid off last fall when horsemen received assistance through the state legislators’ passage of an economic development bill. A provision in the bill moved the final date forward two months, from October 15 to December 15, for a mare to arrive on a Massachusetts farm and have her foal be qualified as a Massachusetts-bred.

Current incentives available for registered Massachusetts-breds include monetary awards for owners, breeders, stallion owners and developers (the owner listed in the racing program for the horse’s first career start) for their horses who finish in the top three at any licensed pari-mutuel race held in any state. Special supplemental purse awards also are paid back to sixth place.

The incentives for top three finishers running anywhere in the country are a 10% owner’s award of the purse money earned, a 20% award to the developer, a 25% award to the breeder and a 15% award to the stallion owner if the horse is by a registered Massachusetts-based stallion. The maximum for each award is $5,000. A $10,000 special supplemental award added to the purse also can be earned by the owner, developer, breeder and stallion owner.

“That [December 15 date] is a designation that adds another incentive for breeders to raise Thoroughbreds to qualify for out-of-state purses,” said Anthony Spadea Jr., president of the New England HBPA and an MTBA board member. “It is part of what is considered one of the best breeding programs in the country. Making this investment in the state’s breeding industry remains consistent with the efforts of current Governor Maura Healey to create more incentives for farmers, who generally receive constant economic pressure from developers, to resist the temptation to sell their farms.”

Arlene Brown, the MTBA secretary, owns and operates Briar Hill Farm, the largest farm in Massachusetts and one of the longest operating full-service facilities in New England. Located in Rehoboth, Briar Hill had already been in the family of her husband, George, for more than 150 years when he passed away at age 82 in 2018. George Brown was the MTBA president for more than 20 years, and he was one of New England’s most ardent activists for racing and breeding.

Arlene Brown continues to carry the torch.

“The legislature and the administration are now paying attention to our rural economy, which is where our farmers live and work,” she said.

Carol Casella operates Royal Breeze Thoroughbreds Inc. in Harvard, Massachusetts, and she has been promoting a more focused approach to breeding that emphasizes high-quality foals bred by known pedigreed stallions and mares.

“The higher the quality of our foals, the better chance we have to run 2-yearolds and 3-year-olds at the best tracks with the best purses,” Casella said.

Building that pipeline is somewhat restricted by the absence of a Thoroughbred track in the state, but she said breeders and horsemen can do both while “breeding up” to produce high-quality Thoroughbreds who can compete on the big tracks against top racehorses.

“We need to promote the high quality of our Thoroughbreds coming out of Massachusetts,” she said. “The breeding program in Massachusetts needs to run in a higher gear.”

Five registered stallions now stand in the state, and the MTBA website roster includes Grade-1 winning millionaire Long On Value (by Value Plus), who was relocated from Maryland to Briar Hill Farm, and Maine, who is by 2015 Triple Crown champion and Horse of the Year American Pharoah and out of a mare by Hall of Famer A.P. Indy. Maine stands at Amy Riley’s Forge Fields Farm.

Many of the state’s breeders focus exclusively on Thoroughbreds, but others raise livestock to help support their breeding operations while also promoting agriculture and land preservation.

“The success of farms in Massachusetts depends upon how well farmers use their land to feed the demand for their products, whether that is vegetables or livestock,” Brown said.

In addition to Wilmot, 27-year-old Nogah Bust is part of the increasing presence of young women owning and operating breeding farms. Bust owns Johnny B Farm in Plainville, Massachusetts, which is also home to beef cattle, sheep and chickens. The mother of young children has her hands full with foaling the mares but remains excited about the future.

“It is hard work, but I was born for this work,” said Bust, who gets some hands-on help from her construction contractor husband, Isaiah. “But we feel like we are making an investment not only in breeding and livestock but also in our family’s future. There are others like us who believe in this work and believe that the future of the industry in Massachusetts is bright.”

—Lynne Snierson

NEW MEXICO HBPA

ONGOING CHALLENGES FOR HORSEMEN

There is no change to the New Mexico Racing Commission’s attitude or their control of the horse racing industry in New Mexico. They still have their rules in place to unrecognize the New Mexico Horsemen’s Association (NMHA) and support the tracks in selecting track-picked committees to control the simulcast themselves, subverting the Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978.

Sunland Park’s race meeting is going well. However, Sunland Park, Sunray and Albuquerque NMHA state board representative trainers were intimidated by the racetracks and have resigned from the state board.

The NMHA has submitted Senate Bill 323 to the legislature to codify that the association, which has been in existence since 1966, is the designated representative responsible to negotiate simulcast contracts.

The racetracks and commission have submitted Senate Bill 328 to remove all horsemen’s associations from the state statute and give control of the simulcast negotiation and contracts entirely to the state racing commission. Their bill says that they will run three days a week on all tracks instead of three and four days a week on respective tracks. And they can run a race meet from one track at a different track. It also gives the commission control of the 0.3% of the simulcast money that previously went to the horsemen’s medical fund. Their bill basically says the commission follows the Horseracing Act except for the things that Senate Bill 328 exempts.

OHIO HBPA

OHIO HBPA FILES LAWSUIT OVER HISA FEES

The Ohio HBPA filed suit against HISA regarding its assessment fees on February 4 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division.

The suit alleges, among other claims, that the assessment fees HISA is charging Ohio’s horsemen are arbitrary and do not comply with the language of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020.

The Ohio HBPA board has never agreed to pay any assessment fees to HISA since its inception, instead maintaining that HISA is an unconstitutional delegation of government powers to a non-government entity.

In September 2023, the Ohio HBPA and HISA entered into an escrow agreement whereby the Ohio HBPA agreed to place the assessment fees that HISA alleged were owed into an escrow account, which wouldn’t be disbursed to either party until the federal court system determined the constitutionality of HISA. That agreement was extended last year until October 2024. The escrow account balance is currently in excess of $3.5 million.

With the expiration of that agreement, HISA informed the Ohio HBPA that it no longer had a desire to extend the escrow agreement and instead on January 22 sent an email to Penn Entertainment Vice President of Racing Chris McErlean stating that HISA was imposing a per start fee of $177.97 at Mahoning Valley Race Course beginning February 3.

This is what led to the Ohio HBPA’s court filings, which include a motion for preliminary injunction against HISA. The case has been assigned to Judge Edmund Sargus Jr. and is numbered 2:25-cv-00098.

Dave Basler

Ohio HBPA Executive Director

THOROUGHBRED RACING ASSOCIATION OF OKLAHOMA

TRAO OWNER/BREEDER ELECTION RESULTS

After careful counting and verification of the ballots, we are pleased to announce the following candidates have been elected to serve four-year terms on the TRAO board for 2025–28:

Owners

Danny Caldwell*

Dave Faulkner

Bryan Hawk*

Michael Major*

Terry Westemeir*

Breeders

Randy Blair*

Colleen Davidson

C.R. Trout*

*Incumbents

We appreciate the engagement and participation of all TRAO member candidates during this election process. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to these individuals and look forward to their continued contributions to the board. We also would like to thank all the candidates who ran for these positions and the members who participated in the voting process.

The newly elected board members will officially assume their roles at the next board meeting in 2025, and we encourage all members to support them as they embark on this important work for our industry.

OKLAHOMA TRACKS SET 2025 RACING DATES

Will Rogers Downs Thoroughbred Meeting—28 Dates

March 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 31

April 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 21, 22, 28, 29

May 3, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14

Fair Meadows of Tulsa Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa Meeting—27 Dates

June 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28

July 2, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19

Remington Park Thoroughbred Meeting—67 Dates

August 15, 16, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30

September 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28

October 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30, 31

November 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21, 22, 28, 29

December 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19

CONSTRUCTION ON THE NEW DORMITORY AT COLONIAL DOWNS IN EARLY FEBRUARY

VIRGINIA HBPA

SPRING RACING AT COLONIAL DOWNS

Racing returned to Virginia with the first spring meeting at Colonial Downs March 13-15. The spring meet featured the Virginia Derby and Virginia Oaks March 15. These races offered 50-25-15-10-5 points toward the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Oaks. The three-day meet also featured two new $150,000 Virginia-restricted handicaps—the Stellar Wind for fillies and mares and the Boston.

With the opening of The Rose, a historical horse racing (HHR) facility in Dumfries, Virginia, there are currently 4,400 HHR terminals in action across the commonwealth. As a result, there will be 44 days of live racing at Colonial Downs in 2025, up from 27 last year. In addition to the three-day March meeting, the summer meeting will be 41 days from July to September.

Colonial Downs will race Wednesday to Saturday during the summer. Post

Celebrating 100 Years Of Thoroughbred Racing at Tampa Bay Downs

WASHINGTON HBPA

HORSES RETURN TO EMERALD DOWNS; 46% INCREASE IN STALL APPLICATIONS FOR 2025

With stall applications soaring to record levels, training began February 24 in preparation for Emerald Downs’ 30th opening day April 27.

Director of Racing Bret Anderson reported 1,136 stall applications from 76 trainers through March 2. Those figures represent sharp increases from last year’s 776 applications from 54 trainers.

time will be 12:30 p.m. ET on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Friday nights will be under the lights with the first post at 4 p.m. A separate card of three steeplechase races will be run on seven Thursdays with a first post time of 10:45 a.m. prior to the regular Thursday card. There will be a special day of racing Monday, September 1, to celebrate Labor Day. Other days of note include the August 9 Festival of Racing and the September 6 Old Dominion Derby Day. The backside will open June 25 with the first day of training June 26.

A new dormitory, which was negotiated by the Virginia HBPA as part of its current contract with Colonial Downs, is under construction and should be ready for the opening of the summer meet.

VHBPA REMEMBERS R. LARRY JOHNSON

The VHBPA mourns the loss of prominent Virginia horseman R. Larry Johnson, who passed away at age 78 February 4. Larry owned Legacy Farm in Bluemont and was a longtime fixture in Virginia racing. His horses won more than $17.6 million in purse money from 3,132 starts. His most successful year came in 2024 when he had 25 wins and $1.6 million in earnings. On last year’s Commonwealth Champions Day card at Colonial Downs, Larry had two stakes wins with Hollywood Walk in the Camptown and Sky’s Not Falling in the Bert Allen. Larry was an active board member of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association and was recently elected to serve a three-year term on the board of directors of the VHBPA beginning in 2025. Larry generously gave his time as a member of the 2024 and 2025 VHBPA Condition Book Committee. Larry was the second leading owner at Colonial in 2024, and in August 2024, two of his homebreds were awarded Reserve Champion and a second place at the Virginia Breeder’s Fund Yearling Futurity. He will be greatly missed by his fellow horsemen.

Dynamic Secret, trained and owned in part by Bonnie Jenne, was the first horse on the track. Two days prior, Jenne received a special training achievement award “for decades of successfully developing young racehorses” at the annual Washington Champions Awards celebration. Dynamic Secret, who sports two wins and five seconds in nine starts including a score in the 2024 Muckleshoot Derby, was a prime example of Jenne’s ability to scout a promising prospect and successfully develop and manage its talent. Jenne purchased the Dynamic Impact gelding for $8,500 at the 2022 Washington Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association yearling and mixed sale.

The 90th running of the Longacres Mile August 17 headlines a 20-race Thoroughbred stakes schedule worth $1,075,000 at the 51-day meeting that runs from April 27 to September 7. The stakes schedule is consolidated over four Sundays with six stakes events July 20 and August 17 and quadruple-headers June 22 and September 7. The Saturday, August 16, card features a pair of Quarter Horse stakes—the $40,000 AQHA Racing Championship Challenge and $30,000 John Deere Juvenile Challenge.

Worker’s compensation rates are slightly up for 2025 but bring welcome relief to many trainers coming from other jurisdictions. A unique premium assessment negotiated with the Department of Labor and Industries in the early 1990s has evolved into a more equitable daily fee schedule over the past 30 years. The 2025 premium per groom/assistant trainer is $199.98 per month or $6.67 per day for grooms working fewer than 14 days during the month. Trainers are invoiced monthly for exercise riders. Pony person fees are invoiced monthly at a rate of $1.77 per day per horse.

The Washington HBPA keeps track of horse inventory as a service to trainers, but trainers are responsible for the accuracy of the reports. Trainers must report the names of grooms working for them to the Washington Horse Racing Commission and any transfer of horses to new trainers, other than via claims.

SUCCESSFUL MID-ATLANTIC OWNER AND BREEDER R. LARRY JOHNSON, RECENTLY ELECTED TO SERVE A TERM ON THE VIRGINIA HBPA BOARD, PASSED AWAY IN FEBRUARY.

QUARTER CHUTE CAFÉ RETIRES; WELCOME LAS MARGS CAFÉ

Emerald Downs is among a handful of tracks with a stable kitchen open to the public, with diners able to view horses during morning training hours. From the track’s opening in 1996 through the conclusion of the 2023 season, Joe and Sally Steiner operated the Quarter Chute Café. Emerald Downs managed the café in 2024 while management continued to search for a successor to the iconic track kitchen, which all agreed could never be replicated.

In January, Emerald Downs management announced Axtlan Inc., owner of four Mexican restaurants including Las Margaritas (located less than a mile from the Emerald Downs property), is the new operator of the “horsemen’s kitchen” at the racetrack. Zulema Garza, operations manager for Axtlan, said Las Margs Café will operate 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, with a menu featuring breakfast burritos and light Mexican fare along with traditional breakfast and lunch items.

“We looked at several options, but listening to comments and suggestions, Las Margaritas was clearly the best way forward,” said Bob Fraser, Emerald Downs director of operations. “This will be a great addition for horsemen, owners and people associated with the industry.”

Although, the Emerald Downs community was happy for the Steiners and their new life of retirement, many openly expressed to the Washington HBPA and via social media that they were not happy about the café’s new name.

“Personally, I think renaming the restaurant to Las Margs was a positive decision,” said Washington HBPA staff member MaryAnn O’Connell. “Joe and Sally’s Quarter Chute is so much more than a name. It is fitting to retire their name like a famous athlete’s jersey. The Quarter Chute, no matter who is operating it, will never be what it was with Joe and Sally in charge. The new name allows the new Las Margs to have its own identity.”

Joe and Sally Steiner agreed and expressed appreciation for retiring their iconic café’s name, and they have been an integral part of introducing Las Margs to the Emerald Downs community.

“We are so happy and proud that [the Garzas] will be the new owners of the café,” Sally Steiner said with her usual joy-filled enthusiasm. “Their personalities bring a warm happy atmosphere to the café along with great service, great food, wanting to meet and please everyone. It makes our hearts happy.”

WASHINGTON HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2025

Longacres Mile winner Wasserman, trainer Mark Glatt, breeders Ron and Nina Hagen and owner Paskey Dedomenico make for a stellar field of 2025 Washington Racing Hall of Fame inductees.

The class of 2025 marks Emerald Downs’ 20th annual Washington Hall of Fame ceremony, with the official induction ceremony taking place Saturday, August 16, on the eve of the 90th running of the Longacres Mile.

Wasserman rates among the most popular racehorses in state history. The 2002 Washington-bred son of Cahill Road retired with a 13-15-14 record from 83 starts. All but 11 of those starts occurred at Emerald Downs. Forty of Wasserman’s starts were in stakes races, including his victory in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile Handicap in 2008. He went 6-7-6 in those 40 stakes starts.

Wasserman won his debut as a 3-year-old in late May 2005 at Emerald Downs. His first stakes victory came two years later in the Governor’s Handicap with a last-to-first win after he capitalized on blazing front-end fractions. The come-from-behind effort became his signature running style, and Wasserman won the Governor’s Handicap again in 2008. The gelding won four stakes in a magical 2008 campaign—all photo finishes capped by a victory in the Longacres Mile as the obvious fan favorite. The 10-1 upset in the track’s signature stakes race made history for his regular rider, Jennifer Whitaker, who became the first female rider to win the region’s biggest race. Wasserman’s final victory came in his 82nd start at age 11.

Owned and trained by Howard Belvoir, the now 23-year-old Wasserman continues to be one of the first horses to return to Emerald Downs every February. Whitaker still rides the Belvoir barn mascot and pony, who entertains fans with his gentle congeniality rather than his thrilling finishes.

Mark Glatt, who grew up just minutes from Emerald Downs, has developed into one of the top conditioners in Southern California. The son of renowned Washington trainer Ron Glatt, Mark has amassed more than 1,300 career wins, more than $51.3 million in purse earnings and 31 graded stakes victories. He trained Dr. Schivel and Collusion Illusion to Grade 1 victories and in 2019 returned home to capture the Grade 3 Longacres Mile with Law Abidin Citizen.

Ron and Nina Hagen’s El Dorado Farms has reigned as Washington’s leading breeder eight times, including in 2024. The Hagens bred state champions Freight Line, Coastal Kid, Slew the Man, Knight Raider and Dutton, the last of which was voted 2020 Emerald Downs horse of the meeting.

A giant in business with Golden Grain (Rice-a-Roni), Paskey Dedomenico cast an even bigger shadow in Washington racing. During a 20-year period beginning with the first Washington Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association sale in 1968, Dedomenico bought more horses than any buyer in the state including three sale-toppers. His runners were a force on the track and included Longacres and British Columbia Derby winner Irish Bear, Gottstein Futurity champ Sing a Roni and homebred Washington 3-year-old filly champion Heather Ala Roni.

WASHINGTON CHAMPIONS CELEBRATION HONORS STARS OF 2024

The sun shone brightly on the 2024 Washington champions at Emerald Downs February 22 in keeping with the event’s theme of “All Things Spring.” A crowd of approximately 200 representing the many facets of the Washington Thoroughbred industry gathered to celebrate and honor nominees and recipients of a plethora of well-deserved awards.

Top honors went to Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old Lonesome Boy and his 2024 leading owner John E. Parker. Parker, awarded top owner honors based on 2024 Washington-bred earnings of $254,928, chose to campaign the Nationhood gelding exclusively on the East Coast last season. Lonesome Boy won three of 11 starts with a second and a third for earnings of $199,950 in 2024.

The race for top 2-year-old Washington-bred filly proved an easy call, with unbeaten Precise Timing taking the honors. The daughter of Dialed In, undefeated in three starts with earnings of $91,050, is owned by Blue Ribbon Racing #23 and trained by Kay Penney Cooper.

The champion 3-year-old filly, Chai, also comes from the Penney Cooper barn. From the last American crop of Race Day, Chai was victorious in three of six starts in 2024 at Emerald Downs. She’s owned by Cooper’s sister Jill Fabulich and Lori Heist.

Honors in the 2-year-old male division went to Big Bowie, an early twotime winner at Turf Paradise for owner Margaret “Cookie” Root and trainer Frank Lucarelli.

Veterans Slew’s Tiz Whiz and Blazingbellablu secured their place in history with their third straight titles as champion older horse and champion older filly, respectively. Other equine honors went to Huge Bigly (plater of the year), Coastal Jazz (most improved plater), Alternation (sire), Barkley (freshman sire) and OTTB Nowlookatme (Skyloh).

The ceremony also honored the following:

2024 WTBOA/WHBPA Special Recognition Award—Robert Lopez. For his many years of outstanding service and dedication to learning and understanding Thoroughbred racing, both in his positions while working at the Washington Horse Racing Commission and through his contributions serving with Association of Racing Commissioners International.

2024 Racetrack Achievement Award—Wayne Damron. For his heartfelt dedication to the safety of horse and rider through decades of attentive and meticulous work as track superintendent at Washington tracks.

2024 Special Training Achievement Awards—Bonnie Jenne. For decades of successfully developing young racehorses, including 2024 Washington-bred stakes winners Dynamic Secret and He’s Not Talking. Tim McCanna. For becoming the 64th North American trainer to saddle 2,500 winners, a pinnacle he reached May 27, 2024, with Smile and Profile at Golden Gate Fields.

2024 Los Margaritas Special Riding Achievement Award—J. Carlos Montalvo. For outstanding riding at Emerald Downs in his first two seasons (2023–24), including piloting his mounts to eight stakes wins.

2024 Mark Kaufman Media Award—Jason Beem. Tampa Bay Downs track announcer and podcast host. HJ

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FLAIR ® EQUINE NASAL STRIPS

Clinically Proven to Reduce EIPH and Improve Respiratory Performance

BENEFITS OF FLAIR STRIPS

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HOW DO FLAIR STRIPS WORK?

FLAIR Strips work by supporting the nasal passages and reducing airflow resistance.

When horses breathe during exercise, the soft tissues overlying the nasal passages collapse, reducing the size of the airway. This reduction in size of the airway causes increased resistance to moving air into the lungs. FLAIR Strips support the nasal passages so there is less collapse and less resistance to bringing air into the into the lungs.

ARE THERE STUDIES THAT PROVE FLAIR STRIPS REDUCE EIPH?

Clinical studies show that FLAIR Strips reduce EIPH in horses during exercise. All EIPH studies were conducted by major universities or research centers on known bleeders during racing or intensive exercise and are published in peer reviewed research journals.

Endoscopic view of nasal passage without FLAIR Strip

Endoscopic view of nasal passage with FLAIR Strip