It’s Aboot Time Somebody Stepped Up

By Jude T. Feld

During the Aug. 19, 2007 Jockey Club Round Table Conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Jockey Club chairman Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps said an NTRA survey revealed that of 1,250 racing fans, one-third said Thoroughbred racing has “serious integrity issues,” with alleged use of illegal medication first and foremost.

He also said integrity issues cause “grave concern” to any business, especially those involved with spectator sports like horse racing.

“To be quite candid, the stewards of The Jockey Club think it’s a disgrace that numerous horses in our sport’s most prominent and highly visible races are routinely trained by people who have repeated medication violations…At the present time, there are no penalties for owners of horses that test positive for a banned substance. In the past, we believed that was correct. But if owners are picking trainers who are routinely fined or suspended for medication infractions, we should reconsider an owner-responsibility rule.”

Phipps said “there is nothing more important” to the Jockey Club stewards than the medication issue. He said the organization is committed to providing “significant funding” to tackle the matter, but all industry stakeholders must cooperate.

Phipps message managed to work its way north of the border because at its meeting on January 22, 2008, the Board of the Ontario Racing Commission approved a number of significant measures to protect the health of the horse, ensure the safety of participant and reinforce the integrity of the horse racing industry.

The most significant of these measures was the “suspension” of horses who are found to have a positive test:

“In an aggressive move to improve the welfare of the horse and communicate that the ORC is serious about owner responsibility and eliminating the use of illegal medications, new rules are introduced that make a “positive test” horse immediately ineligible to race for 90 days. Effective January 31, 2008.”

John L. Blakney, the Executive Director of the ORC closed his “Notice to the Industry,” thusly:

“The racing community has expressed the desire for regulation that is fair and which holds all to the highest standards that the public, horse racing participants and the horse deserve.”

Finally a policy that makes sense for all involved, including the horseplayer.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 4:51 pm and is filed under Featured Articles. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.