Page 18 - July 2019

AQHA RACING UPDATE
“AQHA is interested in participating in discussions to determine the best options for the health, safety and welfare of our beloved horse and the future of the racing industry.”
Janet VanBebber
July 2019 • AQHA Racing Update AQHA On Capitol Hill
by Janet VanBebber, AQHA Chief Racing Officer
In my last update, I closed mentioning that I would be representing AQHA Racing in Washington DC. I am always amazed when witnessing the inner workings of our government and am humbled by the opportunity to serve the Quarter Horse racing indus- try and voice our concerns. On my trip, I attended the race related meetings at the American Horse Council Conference. I also spent two days visiting the offices of several Representatives and Senators to express our concerns over the proposed Horse Racing Integrity Act. I was joined by Ward Stutz, AQHA’s Director of Public Policy, and a few stellar members of our AQHYA Leadership. During our time on Capitol Hill, we left those who were aligned with our views armed with bullet points to strengthen their resolve to support us, and used the same bullet points to try and sway those who have signed on as sponsors of the bills. You, too, should be empowered with this knowledge and should know what your Association
is saying to protect your horses’ welfare, and our in- dustry as a whole, against federal oversight that could prove detrimental:
• “On March 14, 2019, Congressmen Paul Tonko (D-NY) and Andy Barr (R-KY) introduced the Horseracing Integrity Act of 2019 (HR 1754) in the House of Representatives. On June 12, 2019, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Martha McSally (R-AZ) introduced a companion bill in the Senate (S 1820).
• These bills are intended to improve the integrity and safety of horseracing by requiring a uniform anti-doping and medication control program
to be developed and enforced by an indepen-
dent Horseracing Anti-Doping and Medication Control Authority (the Authority) overseen by the United States Anti-doping Agency.
• The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) strongly supports uniformity in the horse racing industry, and the safety and welfare of the horse is AQHA’s No. 1 priority. However, AQHA is unable to support the current legisla- tion as written because it will NOT improve the integrity and safety of horseracing for a variety of reasons, which we have outlined below.
16 SPEEDHORSE, July 2019