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Elsewhere in this issue we mention that Marcus Miller was the top UDR driver with over 100 starts in 2007. It is worthy of note as well that Wil Roland came in second. Regarding Marcus it must be something in the genes with Uncle Andy and dad dri-ving a few in the day. I have heard over the years that grandpa
Marvin could move that buggy down the road pretty well. So, I guess we should not be surprised.
Also listed are the amateur driving champions in the Mid-Western program and one of the winners was Kyle Wilfong who I remember when he was but a little fella. I was standing by his parents at the DuQuoin State Fair when Kyle swept up to catch Kyle Husted at the wire. I can only say that dad would have driven it differently, but you know, he wasn’t doing the driving!
Before I forget it Marcus’s father Erv came within a hair’s breath of setting the all-time UTR for trainers. There should have been a celebration at the Miller house in Sherman over all of these happenings.
On a glad/sad note it is with some joy that we note the induction of Tim Wilson, Sr. into the Illinois Harness Horse-men’s Hall of Fame. Tim was one of the strongest advocates for horsemen in Illinois that I’ve ever known. Sometimes we did not agree on certain strategies or tactics, but there was never any question about where his loyalties lay. Over the years his stal-lions produced numerous outstanding race horses and the legacy continues in Wilson Equine through the efforts of Tim’s wife, Diana. To all the family and all of his friends, let me be first
in line to offer my congratulations on a recognition well-deserved.
I sure miss that guy.
I know bones are supposed to mend faster when you are younger but they sure seem to be taking their sweet time with our friend, Ryan Anderson. Things are progressing as they will but it can never be quickly enough. The best we can hope for is that everything moves forward as to plan and he can be back in the bike sooner rather than later. Keep the faith Ryan!
We just noticed recently that many of you renewing your subscriptions to the magazine are doing so for multiple years. Thank you for that vote of confidence. I noted that one person wrote on his renewal that he was only renewing for one year because he was 80 years old. Another re-upped for three years and commented that he was 86 years old but that he had bought a yearling and figured he should at least see that through!
In this issue is an article regarding the equine herpes virus and what you need to know and what you need to do. I asked Dave Fitzpatrick, DVM, the state veterinarian if he would put this together as it is a topic that is increasingly valid with various outbreaks in different places in the world. There is a move underway to change the vaccination procedure to allow a vacci-nation to be good for 180 days instead of the current 90 days. However, this regulation is not yet changed and the current rule of 90 days stands.
I am also wont to express my concerns that many horsemen are letting some other vaccinations slide, in particular the vacci-nation for the West Nile Virus. I was shocked to learn at a year-ling sale last year that very few of the horses being offered for sale had been vaccinated. Just because you haven’t been hear-ing much about West Nile it is still in the environment and seems to follow in cycles. You don’t want your horses to be caught in the next cycle.
Everyone is watching the situation in New Jersey as Free-hold has cut purses, may do so again, and the Meadowlands is threatening to cut purses dramatically. Like some of the rest of us they are learning what it is like to have to race for what you earn. Just how significant the subsidy has been in New Jersey may be measured by the fact purses may have to be cut as much as one-half. We should note that that drastic of a cut would be to in part recover (hate that word recapture!) the over-payment that has already been paid out and must be made up.
The current situation in New Jersey should be plenty of fuel to those folks who oppose a subsidy rather than slots. The stroke of a pen, or the absence of a stroke of the pen, can wreck this kind of havoc in short order. If you charge a license fee and require licensees to make a major investment in facility and equipment it is much more difficult to shut off that spigot.
Any way you look at it, a handout is a handout and its continuance is at the mercy of the one making the handout. After saying all of this can you believe some of those prices at the Meadowlands Sale? Granted the high prices went for some super stock, but one thing is for sure those high priced horses were not purchased to race in Chicago. Obviously there are all kinds of economic models at play here but a reasonable expectation for return on investment doesn’t seem to be one of them.
Maybe it is significant that one of the big buyers was a stable I believe named, It’s Only Money Stable? Maybe that says it all. As the cold winds blow across these Midwestern plains we are reminded that the opening of the race track in Minnesota, Running Aces, is not all that far away. They have an early April projected deadline and everyone I’ve spoken to said they fully expect the facility to be ready in time. The concern some folks have is just how many horses are going to be available and how are folks who have never run a racetrack going to do? Obviously the jury is out and the proof will be in the results that accrue.
Sort of quietly the Ontario Racing Commission dropped all the charges against the eleven individuals who received the aminorex positives. The official statement said the charges were dropped because of “ due to the uniqueness of the situation and evidence of mitigating circumstances.” Translated that basically means that yes the horse’s urine tested positive for aminorex but it apparently was the result of administrating levamisole, a sheep wormer often used by horsemen. It was concluded that the horsemen in question all conducted themselves in a reasonable manner and had no intent to defraud the public. Nonetheless, the substances were determined to enhance the horse’s performance and as such the penalties on the horses stood.
This experience occurred in several other jurisdictions but most of them took a more conservative approach to the question and learned what had caused the positives before taking drastic action. In fact, many horsemen wonder what would have happened in Ontario if some of those with the positive tests had not been some of the “good guys?” As we have learned in the State of Illinois the rush to judgment can be wrong and bring about unfortunate and dire consequences. The number of people released from Death Row because science finally proved them innocent. Any-time I hear people demanding that the rascals be dealt with summarily, I get nervous. I finally have learned to not believe what I’m told about others and believe only half of what I see.
If you are like me you look at the posting by the USTA of fines and suspensions that is posted every Friday. Maybe it is morbid curiosity, but I do like to review it. It seems that several tracks are coming down harder on drivers in such categories as not showing up to drive, whipping, and talking on the track. The unfortunate part is that there is really no consistency from one jurisdiction to another. I’ve mentioned several times in this column the feeling of some gamblers about talking on the track and you should hear them when they have to redo their handicapping because a driver didn’t show up.
Recently in the Chicago Sun-Times a quote jumped off the page as I was reading Rick Telander’s column. Now I’ve never considered Rick to be a great philosopher but it seems his statement very succinctly describes what has happened to harness racing. I quote,” The rule about capitalism is that if you leave a market vulnerable, somebody will come into that void and fill it with their own goods and wares.” Isn’t that exactly what has happened with horse racing? When we once had it all our own way we got fat and sassy and when the riverboats came along we fought a battle we could not win, and the beat rolls on.
This leads directly to what is happening in Canada. Parimutuel wagering has steadily declined since 2002. Standardbred wagering in total is off 36% in the last five years, 33% in Ontario and 28% at the Woodbine Entertainment tracks. In dollars that is $310 million in Canada, $236 million in Ontario, and almost $130 for Woodbine Entertainment.
Why? Several reasons are given. Certainly the loss of monies to the offshore online betting accounts is a major factor but other internal issues are also at play. The product has not changed appreciably in substance and appears to be the same-o same-o. Another factor that is often forgotten today is that gaming and handicapping are intellectual pursuits. It is still true that handicapping is considered a skill in a court of law. And that may be the problem. It doesn’t take much to slip a coin in a slot and push a button. There is also the opportunity for instant gratification at a machine. Does seem to fit a lot of people you know?
I read some of the transcript of Dana Parham at the annual track and gaming conference in Arizona
recently. Now I am not a gambler and do not profess to be one. Mr. Parham by self-admission wagers more money in an evening that I will make in a decade. What I picked up from his talk is look fellas, over here, I’m your customer. If I’m wagering these kinds of dollars is a rebate going to appeal to me? Does Wisconsin make cheese? Horse racing, and particularly harness racing, has long tried to mold the market to its model rather than adapting the racing model to the marketplace.
The history of American business is strewn with the wreckage of thousands of companies who thought they could mold the market to their industry model. It never has worked, and likely never will.
In the last month I read two pieces in national harness publications that really resonated with me. Blair Burgess responded to a question about trainers who have numerous positives and what will it take to clean up the sport? You really should read his entire response but some of the things I gleaned from it are: it is not our biggest problem, industry has greater concerns, positives are not turning away the crowds, they don’t even know about most of them, the regulation of horses and drugs is much greater than most sports.
Another trainer wrote to a different publication and focused his comments on the question of punishing owners for positives. Again gleaning from his entire letter, it would be disastrous for the sport, the trainer responsibility is there to place the onus on the person who is in control of the horse, the idea that most owners know and condone what trainers may do illegally is simply not true, the number of owners who have even visited the barn is very small, if a jurisdiction licenses a trainer and allows him to train then he is a valid commodity, if you start laying penalties on owners who are professional people many of them holding licenses in their profession, then they will leave by the droves. The trainer is responsible for the horse – that’s it.
Now I know I’ve excerpted from their statements and I urge you to read their entire comments to get the full story and impact of what they said. For me, I am in basic agreement with their statements. Place responsibility where it logically lays. The foibles of many other sports should not give us any solace but should give us pause when we consider throwing the baby out with the bath water.
The Illinois Racing Board is in the process of rule-making on two very important topics, the testing for anabolic steroids and testing for the presence of blood-doping agents. The later testing would also involve the utilization of out-of-competition testing. The nature of these substances is such that to test for anything other than antibodies the testing must occur closer to the time of administration.
As a license holder with a qualified horse you will be liable for testing even though the horse may not be in to go. The stated objective of such procedures is to act as a deterrent. Not knowing if a horse will be tested, but may be tested, is believed to be a strong deterrent and most would agree.
No I didn’t forget my Noble Steed/Hayburner Report. We are still in the process of training back some three-year-olds (after one surgery) and teaching the two-year-olds the way around the track (after another surgery). This thing of only bills and no income is definitely for the birds.
From one horseman to another,
Sam Lilly
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