Page 190 - January 2019

AQHA RACING UPDATE
“Our staff has been busy doing all that is required in the process to name the 2018 AQHA Racing Champions. It is a tedious, manual process and providing accurate data is critical.”
Janet VanBebber
Happy New Year! I hope that like me, all of you are enjoying these first days of 2019 and look- ing forward to all that the New Year will bring.
As horsemen, we are anticipating new arrivals in the foaling barn, and looking forward to the promise and potential of the new class of two year olds. I pray that good fortune finds you no matter what type of shedrow you find yourself in.
Before taking a look at a few things we are enthusiastic about in 2019, I’ll offer a quick
report on recent endeavors. In the last update, I mentioned that during the Racing Conference
at Los Alamitos, I was given a mandate from
the Racing Committee and Racing Council to pursue a Quarter Horse specific modification
to the Association of Racing Commissioners International’s Model Rules implementing a change in the penalty class of clenbuterol that is consistent with its prohibited substance status,
and to pursue to the prohibitions for albuterol. In December, I lobbied hard for the ARCI to consider these measures during their meeting in Tucson and am proud to say my efforts were successful. Look for these modifications in the next issue of the Model Rules. Now, the task will be for the individual jurisdictions to adopt the new rule rec- ommendations. While there is no doubt that when used as labeled these medications are effective. However, the abusive administration has rendered them dangerous to our equine athletes – not to mention the integrity of the sport. The best inter- est of both will be represented by implementation of these measures.
We are proud of our accomplishments in 2018 and are looking forward to a promising 2019 as well! Our staff has been busy doing all that is required in the process to name the 2018 AQHA Racing Champions. It is a tedious, manual process and providing accurate data is critical. When I joined the Association as staff, I was surprised to
learn how labor intensive this work is. The team
in Amarillo submits the list of the contenders first to the Racing Committee, so that they can nomi- nate additional contenders if they so choose, and ultimately to the Champions Selection Committee in a two day sequestered meeting. Once the votes are tabulated, the team gets to work on the pro- duction of the AQHA Racing Champions Awards Ceremony...accurate records, script, video, live webcast, awards... all in an effort to bring you an exciting night at Heritage Place on January 17th as we honor the deserving recipients. I hope that we see you there.
There are other things we are looking forward to in the New Year. We have been operating with a minimum staff for quite some time and are in the process of making the department whole again. I appreciate everyone who has been understanding of our office as we endure this transition.
Additionally, we are looking forward to the roll out of AQHA’s new technology that will bring both our computer systems and our website up to new standards with innovative features. We anticipate these changes to be implemented before the AQHA Convention in March.
We are looking forward to resuming a full schedule of AQHA Regional Challenge races and are excited that the schedule was available before year’s end, enabling our membership to make plans for the coming racing season. If you haven’t seen it yet, turn to pages 130-131 in this issue or visit the Challenge section of AQHA.com/racing. Those that triumph in the Challenge Regional races will have the opportunity to compete in the Challenge Championships, which
will be conducted for the first time at The Downs at Albuquerque on October 26, 2019. Mark your calendars!
These are just a few good things that will be brought to you by AQHA Racing in 2019. We are here to serve you, our membership, and hope that you are pleased with our efforts.
JANUARY 2019
AQHA Racing Update
Janet VanBebber, AQHA Chief Racing Officer
186 SPEEDHORSE, January 2019