Page 22 - March 2007 The Game

22 The Game, March 2007 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
They say racing gets in the
blood. It certainly has with the
Snows, one of Hastings Park's long-time racing families. The
clan includes trainer Mel Snow
and wife Fran, brother Wayne,
an agent, brother Daryl, a
trainer, and Mel's son John, the
youngest trainer in a successful racing family that has literally grown up around the track.
"My Dad and uncles were involved in horses and I grew up around the backstretch," says Mel. "I've been hanging around here since I was little. I got my trainer's license when I was eighteen at Landsdowne Park. Things have changed dramatically since then and although I've traveled and raced the West Coast and all over the states, I just kept coming back here because it's a great place."
Mel, according to his brother Wayne, is not a man you want to challenge.
"Don't argue with him. I learned that the hard way when we were kids," he says with a laugh.
Sibling rivalry aside, strong character is what makes Mel an ideal advocate for horseracing. A good horseman who cares about racing and the people in it, Mel has served the British Columbia HBPA for the past eleven years as a director, vice-president and BC President and was recently re-elected Canadian President.
"I got involved in the HBPA at a time when there was a lot of change going on." says Snow " It's an industry that I love and enjoy and I thought I would get involved and do what I could do for it. It's been good to me. I've raised and supported a family and I've got a farm in Aldergrove so when you work with the HBPA you're giving back to the community that's supported you."
Recently he attended an HBPA Winter Meeting in Hot Springs, Arkansas where he participated in discussions over a multitude of issues that affect BC as well as other jurisdictions throughout North America.
"People from all over North America get together and discuss problems and possible solutions and what we can do as a national body," he says.
"One of the larger things on the table right now is medication. We're trying to work with regulators and horse groups to get uniform medication rules throughout North America and to establish a consensus on threshold levels for medications. With testing today so sensitive, threshold levels are becoming more and more important to the industry, to establish a point in nanograms where a medication has absolutely no affect on the animal. Each drug has it's own level or point where it has no affect, yet it would show in a urine or blood sample as a false-positive. And with zero tolerance it would be a positive test and a violation of medications when actually it had
absolutely no pharmaceutical benefit or affect on the animal. Another large issue discussed at the convention in January was environmental contamination and we had some of the top chemists and vets from around the world who laid out a huge amount of information about how you can get environmental contamination that would cause a positive test. That's why the threshold levels are going to become even more important. One vet, a Dr. Barker from Louisiana, did swab testing on walls and bedding in test barn stalls and was able to pick up different medications like banamine and butazolidin. He was concerned that, under a zero tolerance policy, a lot of people would get hurt for no reason.Those are two main issues, drug thresholds and environmental contaminants. Another big issue is the RMTC (Racing Medication Testing Consortium) which is made up of horsemen and regulators throughout North America trying to get a consensus on what drugs are allowed on race days and what time levels etc. Discussions have been going on for a number of years now and there's still a lot of work to do but it's getting closer. That's a very important thing for racing because it will stabilize the medication rules in different jurisdictions. In today's market, it's very important for the betting public because a horse's form won't be affected if he's come from a jurisdiction with different medication rules. It will help stabilize the form on a horse and it won't become a contributing factor you have to put in when you're handicapping a race. It will create a level playing field across the board for horsemen and the betting public."
There are, of course, many other issues concerning our sport that are addressed by the HBPA; lasix rules, labour shortages, etc. It's reassuring to have people in the HBPA like Mel, and Conrad Cohen and others working on our behalf with groups like the national medication committee. It's obvious that, for Mel Snow, working with the HBPA is an important part of his life as a horseman.
"The HBPA looks out for the best interests of horsemen everywhere, says Mel. "It's a great organization. I've met people from all over the world and the nicest thing about them is that they are horsemen just trying to give back to the industry and do what’s right for it."
We can't argue with that.
A Look at Racing in British Columbia
By Jim Reynolds
Training at Hastings Racecourse
Photos by Jim Reynolds
Co-leading trainer of 2006, the hard-working Barb Heads
Trainers Harold Barroby (right) talks with legendary George Cummins perhaps about the 15 training titles between them.
Trainer Dave Forester seems happy to be in training
Exercise rider Pat Young exits the track aboard a horse for trainer Harold Barroby
Trainer Marc Cloutier hopes 2007 is as good as 2006
Trainers (left to right) Pat Gormley, Cindy Krasner and Dennis Terry share a laugh.
Above Photo: Exercise rider Stewart Williams sports an ever-present smile
Photo Right: Stall superintendent Pete Hodge has the unenvious job of overseeing the springtime rite of stall wars
Springtime at Hastings brings the inevitable mud