CHRB Report Holds More Grim News

[Southieboy]

Pari-mutuel wagering in California declined by $501 million during fiscal year 2009-10, and betting through advance deposit, the only growth area in the state's handle for the past several years, also dipped slightly.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...more-grim-news

[The_Knight_Sky]

CHRB's Kirk Breed still does not "get it".

California all- sources handle is off by $1 billion in 3 years according to the article but you simply won't see admissions of mistakes made by those "running the show". Instead, they put the onus on racetrack owners to get people into the door. C'mon man !

______________________________________________

"I think we're beating this same old horse to death," CHRB executive director Kirk Breed said.

The same factors that have been roiling horse racing for the past few years -- chiefly the recession, lack of employment, competition for the gambling dollar, and fewer race days -- continue to plague the sport, Breed said. But he also believes racing, due in part to horse breakdowns and use of medications, has lost the support of the sporting public.

"We need to look at the health of the entire industry, the health of our horse inventory," Breed said. "And we kind of go back to the beginning and say, 'How do we get people to go back to the races?' We do that with good, sound, fair racing.

"We have based the health of our game on the gambler. But they aren't betting as much. Why? Because we aren't putting on as good of a show. As a regulator, I have to put the health and safety of the horse and rider first.

But if the track owners are going to stay in business, they are going to have to get people in the door."

_____________________________________

If California track owners are going to stay in the horse racing business
they must to be allowed to run the racetracks the way they want it.

[Stillriledup]

80-90 pct of monies come from off track and they're still worried how to cater to the 2 dollar show bettor to get them to consume the live product?

Sure, that would be nice if 20,000 people who know nothing about racing would show up and bet 50-100 dollars per race, but that only happens in the movies.

While hard core bettors don't want to see breakdowns, its not going to stop serious racing fans from leaving the sport. If a player in the NFL gets seriously injured, do people not watch the Super Bowl later in the season? Of course not.
While we feel bad for the injured player, its not going to take a hard core person who was destined to be a lifelong fan and turn them into a non fan.

Santa Anita charging 4 dollars to park and 8 dollars admission to watch a television during the days when there is no live racing available isnt going to get 'people in the doors'. Charging full price to watch television= bad idea.

Breed talks about 'use of medications'. Yes Kirk, its the 30 day 'vacations' that the usual suspects get while training their stable from the cellphone laying on Manhattan Beach that bothers the public. How about a 6 month or a 1 year suspension AND force that trainer to not be able to run horses in the name of some 'paper trainer'. If the owner wants to run his horse, he has to give that horse to an already established trainer, not some guy who got his license from a cracker jack box. Its not hard, get rid of the wrist slaps and get down to some serious fines and suspensions. A trainer forgets to report a gelding? 10k fine, not 700 or whatever it is.

Run this place like boot camp and you'll see the cheaters straighten up real quick.

[johnhannibalsmith]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

80-90 pct of monies come from off track and they're still worried how to cater to the 2 dollar show bettor to get them to consume the live product?

Sure, that would be nice if 20,000 people who know nothing about racing would show up and bet 50-100 dollars per race, but that only happens in the movies.
...

Ask Lester what admission, a program, a chicken sandwich, a cup of coffee, and an 8oz. of bottled water to wash down a Prilosec costs.

Handle is most of the money, but to the operator, not all of it.

To the horsemen, and I'm all too aware of this inverse mentality, if they aren't getting the on-track percentages, they naturally conclude that they are being screwed out of money - regardless if a higher percentage of much less does not equal more than a lower percentage of much, much more.

[The_Knight_Sky]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

Breed talks about 'use of medications'. Yes Kirk, its the 30 day 'vacations'
that the usual suspects get while training their stable from the cellphone
laying on Manhattan Beach that bothers the public.

Over the years that California racing has declined I cannot recall any talk
of medication policy reforms. It has become accepted on the west coast.

After rescinding the takeout increases this should be priority number one.
Since it may take a year or two for the local horses to get used to
"running cleanly", so I'd suggest making 3 day racing weeks mandatory.

After all they're so good at creating "mandates".

[johnhannibalsmith]

Originally Posted by The_Knight_Sky

Over the years that California racing has declined I cannot recall any talk
of medication policy reforms. ...

For clarification, can I get a range on the outset of decline?

If, by "any talk", that means absolutely zero has been done to reform the policy since said date, than I guess I'll need further clarification on what constitutes "medication policy reforms."

I maintain, a sliver of the problems that we see in field size and population, MAY have been exascerbated by the "elimination" of Equipoise, Winstrol, testosterone, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.

http://www.caltrainers.org/publicati...c_steroids.pdf

[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by The_Knight_Sky

Over the years that California racing has declined I cannot recall any talk
of medication policy reforms. It has become accepted on the west coast.

After rescinding the takeout increases this should be priority number one.
Since it may take a year or two for the local horses to get used to
"running cleanly", so I'd suggest making 3 day racing weeks mandatory.

After all they're so good at creating "mandates".

Not one higher up in So Cal racing, to my knowledge, has ever come out and said, "we have to clean up the drugs and cheating trainers in Cat-a-for-knee-ah"

Its business as usual. Cheat, check. Receive wrist slap, check. Train your stable from the cellphone while laying on Manhattan Beach sipping a pina colada, check. Rinse and repeat.

[johnhannibalsmith]

“We’re speaking for the owners and we want to clean up horseracing, too,” said Marsha Naify, vice chairman of the TOC Board, in applauding the committee’s action.
...

A more effective deterrent, it was suggested by Naify, would be to require owners to disperse horses from a suspended barn.

“All we’re saying at the TOC is to put some teeth into it,” she said.
...

Ron Charles, president of California racing for Magna Entertainment Corp., said fines are usually ineffective penalties. “Suspension and confinement barns are what get the attention of trainers,” he said.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...policy-changes

The number of starts for thoroughbreds has dropped from 11.31 in 1960 to 6.37 in 2006 according to The Jockey Club. The rise in the use of steroids and other medications like Lasix and the decline of starts per year is no coincidence said Richard Shapiro, chairman of the California Horse Racing Board.

"You see a direct correlation," he said.

There's a concern that steroid use combined with a change in breeding practices that focuses more on speed than durability can make for a more brittle horse, even if there are no tests available that can prove it.

"The root of the problem today is medication," Shapiro testified at the Congressional hearing. "As medications are used in the breed and being bred into the breed, they're masking infirmities."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/horse...14639678_x.htm

Jack Van Berg, a trainer who has been inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame and known best for training the champion, Alysheba, Â explained, "This would mean no race day threshold levels of Lasix, Bute, Steroids or any other medication. The present rule permitting the use of steroids and other drugs have compromised the integrity of horse racing and has been a major factor in attendance and for interest falling to an all time low. Steroids do not give these "non-consenting" athletes the time they need to develop and mature. Steroids given to young horses, they cause an unnatural increase in muscle mass and make them heavier than their still maturing bone structure can often tolerate. Let the horse develop on his own and the trainer should be enough of a horseman to know when he has matured."

Richard B. Shapiro, Chairman of the California Horse Racing Board, testified, "Without a doubt, medication has changed our sport and presented us with profound challenges that threaten the game itself.... Over the past 40 years we have traded the time-tested regimen of hay, oats and water for a virtual pharmacopoeia - lasix, butezolidin, Clenbuterol - that has created, as one commentator noted recently, ‘The Chemical Horse.' After banning it as a performance enhancer, racing later permitted the widespread use of Clenbuterol -- a drug originally marketed to fatten cattle - after its proponents claimed nothing else worked as well to clear out a horse's respiratory system. Despite evidence suggesting that this drug can alter the muscle mass of the heart, it is commonly used in racing. And we have created The Chemical Horse in the name of medicine and therapy when, too often it has been done to gain a competitive advantage."

http://www.animallawcoalition.com/ho...er/article/543

[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by johnhannibalsmith

“We’re speaking for the owners and we want to clean up horseracing, too,” said Marsha Naify, vice chairman of the TOC Board, in applauding the committee’s action.
...

A more effective deterrent, it was suggested by Naify, would be to require owners to disperse horses from a suspended barn.

“All we’re saying at the TOC is to put some teeth into it,” she said.
...

Ron Charles, president of California racing for Magna Entertainment Corp., said fines are usually ineffective penalties. “Suspension and confinement barns are what get the attention of trainers,” he said.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...policy-changes

The number of starts for thoroughbreds has dropped from 11.31 in 1960 to 6.37 in 2006 according to The Jockey Club. The rise in the use of steroids and other medications like Lasix and the decline of starts per year is no coincidence said Richard Shapiro, chairman of the California Horse Racing Board.

"You see a direct correlation," he said.

There's a concern that steroid use combined with a change in breeding practices that focuses more on speed than durability can make for a more brittle horse, even if there are no tests available that can prove it.

"The root of the problem today is medication," Shapiro testified at the Congressional hearing. "As medications are used in the breed and being bred into the breed, they're masking infirmities."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/horse...14639678_x.htm

Jack Van Berg, a trainer who has been inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame and known best for training the champion, Alysheba, Â explained, "This would mean no race day threshold levels of Lasix, Bute, Steroids or any other medication. The present rule permitting the use of steroids and other drugs have compromised the integrity of horse racing and has been a major factor in attendance and for interest falling to an all time low. Steroids do not give these "non-consenting" athletes the time they need to develop and mature. Steroids given to young horses, they cause an unnatural increase in muscle mass and make them heavier than their still maturing bone structure can often tolerate. Let the horse develop on his own and the trainer should be enough of a horseman to know when he has matured."

Richard B. Shapiro, Chairman of the California Horse Racing Board, testified, "Without a doubt, medication has changed our sport and presented us with profound challenges that threaten the game itself.... Over the past 40 years we have traded the time-tested regimen of hay, oats and water for a virtual pharmacopoeia - lasix, butezolidin, Clenbuterol - that has created, as one commentator noted recently, ‘The Chemical Horse.' After banning it as a performance enhancer, racing later permitted the widespread use of Clenbuterol -- a drug originally marketed to fatten cattle - after its proponents claimed nothing else worked as well to clear out a horse's respiratory system. Despite evidence suggesting that this drug can alter the muscle mass of the heart, it is commonly used in racing. And we have created The Chemical Horse in the name of medicine and therapy when, too often it has been done to gain a competitive advantage."

http://www.animallawcoalition.com/ho...er/article/543

Lots of good talk, positive in nature. When i see a trainer get a 10k fine and a one year suspension and his horses are forced to be transferred to REAL trainers (not these assistants who get their licenses in cracker jack boxes) than i'll stand up and take notice.

Hopefully i'll live long enough to see it.

[Southieboy]

The California Horse Racing Board is expected to decide Thursday who will operate a six-week autumn meeting in Southern California this year, and a new plan discussed behind the scenes in recent weeks could lead to a change from the structure of the last 40 years.

http://www.drf.com/news/california-h...fall-race-meet

[Sericm]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

Not one higher up in So Cal racing, to my knowledge, has ever come out and said, "we have to clean up the drugs and cheating trainers in Cat-a-for-knee-ah"

Its business as usual. Cheat, check. Receive wrist slap, check. Train your stable from the cellphone while laying on Manhattan Beach sipping a pina colada, check. Rinse and repeat.

And I suppose all other venues but So. Cal. are clean?????

[DJofSD]

CHRB: Chemical Horse Rebate Buddies

TOC: Taking Over Control