Page 8 - September 2020

TRACK CHATTER
THE MONTH IN REVIEW
by Jennifer K. Hancock
PATTERSON NAMED RACING SECRETARY AT LONE STAR PARK
Tony Patterson became the racing secretary at Lone Star Park on Aug. 3. He will serve in the role for both the Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meets at the track in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Patterson assumed his new role at the end of the Thoroughbred meet, which wrapped up Aug. 12. Lone Star Park’s Fall Quarter Horse meet is set to begin Sept. 4.
“I am excited to welcome Tony Patterson as the new Lone Star Park Racing Secretary,” said Lone Star Park’s Vice President of Operations Kent Slabotsky. “His experience, knowledge and enthusiasm make him a perfect addition to our management team.”
Patterson brings with him 36 years of experience in the horse racing industry. He began his career at Remington Park in 1988 as the assistant racing secretary/stakes coordinator and eventually became director of racing/racing secretary at the Oklahoma City track. He has held positions at Sam Houston Race Park, Harrah’s Louisiana Downs and most recently as the executive director of the Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders Association.
“I am looking forward to taking on the role of racing secretary at Lone Star Park and thank Kent Slabotsky, Matt Vance and Tim Williams for entrusting me with this position,” said Patterson. “There are some incredible horsemen that support racing in Texas. I feel certain that we will present a very exciting Quarter Horse meet in the months to come.”
TURF PARADISE MEET CANCELLED
In mid-August, Turf Paradise cancelled its upcoming meet due to the coronavirus. In a press release, the track stated that “restrictions on larger crowds at the facility combined with the economic uncertainties associated with periodic closures and necessary social distance requirements, make it impossible for Turf Paradise to conduct a financially practical race meet for both the track and the horsemen.”
On Aug. 13, Turf Paradise informed the Arizona Racing Commission it was declining the
121 proposed race dates, which were scheduled to span from November to May. Traditionally, the Arizona track races from October to May.
“Health concerns and economic realities have left us with no choice but to cancel the meet,” said Vince Francia, Turf Paradise general manager. Purse funds will be held over to 2021.
WILL ROGERS DOWNS REQUIRES HAIR TESTING FOR STAKES RACES
Will Rogers Downs begins its Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa racing on Sept. 12 and is scheduled to conclude on Nov. 14. The Claremore, Oklahoma track is implementing hair testing protocols for the fall meet. All stakes horses will be required to be hair tested prior
to entry. Negative test results must be provided within 45 days prior to race day, which includes trial dates if applicable or within 45 days of
the final if no trials are contested. Horsemen
are reminded that test results take seven to 10 days to be returned to the racing office and no horse will be entered into a stakes race without a negative hair test officially reported. The trainer or owner who initiated the hair test will be contacted within 24 hours, whenever possible, upon notification of any positive result. Racing office personnel cannot and will not provide any hair testing results for any reason.
RTCA WHITE
HORSE AWARD NOMINATIONS OPEN
Nominations for the Race Track Chaplaincy of America’s White Horse
Award and Community Service Award are due Sept. 14. The RTCA serves and ministers to the workers within the horse racing industry. It created the White Horse Award to annually recognizes an individual who has done something heroic on behalf of a human or
a horse. The awards will be given on Nov. 5 via Facebook Live prior to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
2019 TESTING SUMMATION RELEASED
In August, the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium released information about 2019 testing results from across the nation. According to a release by the organization, U.S. racing commissions sent 263,783 biological samples from horses participating in professional horse races to the testing laboratories last
year. Of those tests, there were 1,461 adverse analytical findings accounting for 0.55% of all samples. Fully 99.45% of samples tested were clear, indicating a high degree of compliance with anti-doping and medication rules based upon known information and data.
Of the adverse analytical findings, approximately 3% were clear attempts at doping, as the substance detected had no reason to be present in the horse other than to provide a maximum enhancement of performance. Class 2 substances considered the next most serious level of substances that can affect performance accounted for 6.09% of all findings. Class 1
and Class 2 substances are generally considered “doping” and together they account for 9.03% of all 2019 detections.
As in prior years, the overwhelming substance detections (69.75%) involved therapeutic medications (Class 4 and 5 substances) that may affect performance to a lesser extent, but are still not permitted to be present in a horse when it races. With the exception of race day furosemide to mitigate or prevent bleedings, horse racing
does not permit use of these substances with a therapeutic use exemption as defined in the World Anti-Doping Code.
A total of 21.83% of the detections involved Class 3 substances. These have a greater ability to affect performance and contain substances which may be therapeutic as well as those that might indicate a deliberate attempt to cheat.
This information represents the official testing results from all horse racing U.S. jurisdictions except Maine, which did not respond to repeated requests for information by the Racing Medication and
Testing Consortium.
Like the testing results in human and
Olympic sport, these numbers should not lessen the resolve of the sport and its regulators to pursue substances that the labs are unable to
test for. This is an ongoing challenge for the anti-doping programs in all professional sport and underscores the need for intelligence-based efforts in this regard as well as intelligence-based out-of-competition testing.
Got Good News to Share?
Do you have a positive story that you’d like
to share?
Send photos and news items to Jennifer Hancock: jennifer_k_hancock@hotmail.com.
6 SPEEDHORSE September 2020