Page 37 - NMHBA Spring 2020

Fred Alexander
A&A Horse Ranch/Anthony, New Mexico
Fred Alexander is well-known and highly respected in New Mexico’s Thoroughbred breeding world. His stallion line-up will almost always include established, tried-and-true names, as well as younger studs that he’s able to put on the breeding map. This year he stands three TB stallions.
Alexander insists he stays out of anything political but, nonetheless, he shouldn’t
be overlooked. Here’s his short, but meaningful, comment.
“I’m really not a good person to ask about this because I stay out of politics. At the same time, I do know racetracks like slots and simulcasting.”
Jill Giles - Trainer
Jill Giles, and husband Wes, are two highly involved trainers who relocated to New Mexico from Utah. They both came up through the family training ranks, with branches of their
“My honest opinion is that
New Mexico racing doesn’t have one problem that
talented family tree labeled with names such as Ed and Lee. As a matter of fact, the Giles’ background is darned close to legendary.
Jill has invested a great deal of her “spare”
time to serving on various racing boards and committees. As a result, she’s developed an in- depth knowledge of the industry’s numerous nooks and crannies. She knows what it means, and how it feels, to go toe-to-toe with management in a dedicated effort to represent horsemen effectively.
“There are so many things that people on the outside who are looking in don’t realize about racing and the people who form its backbone. For the past 10 years, we’ve been able to run our horses year-round without leaving the state. A lot of those people have no established places to live because they stay on the road with their horses.
“Thoroughbreds would literally die out in New Mexico if we changed to split meets, because five-horse fields do not attract bettors. That means we have a situation where the horses with the least races are actually supporting the ones who receive the most dates. So, problems are created for both sides and it doesn’t have to be like that.
“We really do have as many horses as we need if things are done properly. Each breed needs the correct number of races and each breed needs to have those races written with the proper conditions. Both those elements are missing. We live in the computer age. Every racing secretary out there has information literally at their fingertips. There should be no problem writing the best possible conditions
if you know and understand your available resources. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
“SunRay was proud to say they had only one condition book for their last meet. That makes things really easy and convenient for SunRay, but do you know what an owner says when he looks at just one condition book? He glances through it and says there’s nothing there for his horses. So, he moves them or he turns them out.
“I had five horses that never got an out during that meet. I paid stall rent. I paid for
a motel room. I have to charge owners for all that, even though their horses never had a chance to win anything.
“I’m truly disappointed in our current commission. I honestly thought they would take their mission statement seriously; especially the part about being there for the betterment of all racing. They’re not.
“Somewhere along the way, tracks started thinking higher Thoroughbred purses and more Thoroughbred races would attract some big Thoroughbred names. That hasn’t happened and it’s not going to happen. Bob Baffert and Steve Asmussen are not going to bring horses to New Mexico – not unless it’s one horse that an assistant trainer brings to win the money from a specific race and then goes home.
“When it comes to issues that we vote on, the horsemen lose before they even go in the room for the meeting! How? Because each track gets a vote, the stewards and the investigator each get a vote. All those votes go with the tracks. The jockeys, the horsemen and the breeders each have one collective, or group, vote. That’s why we can’t win.
“My honest opinion is that New Mexico racing doesn’t have one problem that can’t
be solved easily for everyone’s benefit. But it means working together for the betterment
of everybody. Unfortunately, my other honest opinion is the tracks are trying to get down
to the minimum number of race days allowed by law and concentrate on the slots and the simulcasting. There’s definitely a bigger profit margin if the lights aren’t on all the time, if there aren’t tons of manure to haul away, if there isn’t a backside to at least minimally maintain, a track surface, a starting gate and a rail to keep safe for horses and jockeys, grandstands to paint, barns to repair and so much more. Just think if all those expenses could be eliminated.
“It’s scary.”
Yes. Scary. Especially if someone can’t come up with a new and improved handshake....soon.
can’t be solved easily for everyone’s benefit. But it
means working together
for the betterment of everybody.”
– Jill Giles
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