Virginia's Troubled Racing Industry

[Shammy_Davis]

[QUOTE=JJ’sLuckyTrain;8362271]
Like many issues, there is not an easy answer and it’s not necessarily a fun topic. But, folks need to figure out some answers – at the local, regional, and national levels. I am surprised more horsemen are not demanding a solution in Virginia. One of the problems is that they are too busy taking care of horses![/QUOTE]

Please don’t use “caring for horses” as an excuse. I have been walking this earth for just under three quarters of a century and I personally care for 9 TB’S everyday. If we don’t speak up there will be no reason to care for the racehorse. VA has to do better.

I guess those posting to “bring chrome home” don’t own or care for horses. lol.

[JJ_sLuckyTrain]

What I meant was that many of the people who actually have a stake in Virginia racing are not involved in the political and bureaucratic aspect. It unfortunate but true.

[Shammy_Davis]

[QUOTE=JJ’sLuckyTrain;8362937]
What I meant was that many of the people who actually have a stake in Virginia racing are not involved in the political and bureaucratic aspect. It unfortunate but true.[/QUOTE]

Point well taken. Who would have believed this situation would have occurred? The three major players in this debacle remind me of a TV series I watched as a kid in the 40’s and 50’s titled " Spanky and our gang." It was about a bunch of kids trying to act adult and leading all their buddies into trouble. A modern version could be titled “Petramalo and gang.” Hard to believe he is associated with any group that includes protection and benevolence in its mission. Wonder how the horsemen and women are holding up after a cold night in their trucks and trailers? Bet Hannum, Easter. and Petramalo were tucked into a warm bed. Not the same bed, of course. The VEA should have a disaster relief department to care for the refugee horsemen at meets like this one at Oak Ridge.

It was 32 F here south of Oak Ridge at 6 AM Sunday. I thought this morning that VA has given new definition to horseracing. Rural racing in New England is called the “Leaky Roof” cicuit. After this morning, Virginia’s racing can be called the “Freezer Burn” circuit.

[Shammy_Davis]

Attended the last day of the Oak Ridge meet. The attendance was small but admittedly enthusiastic. The fields were small but I enjoyed the racing. Cripplecreekfrm ’ s connections made for an exciting day in the Juvenile Fillies VA Breeders Final with its three entrants all finishing in a win photo. One, two, and three! Can’t do much better than that in a seven horse field.

Oak Ridge is a beautiful site in the middle of nowhere. With no shelters and a very sturdy cold breeze many spectators, mostly locals, left early.

I’m not expert on harness tracks so I can’t say whether there was any improvement over the weekend. The racing was very competitive.

I enjoyed myself and came out ahead at the window but I wouldn’t want to do this on a regular basis and don’t think it will be popular

[cripplecreekfrm]

I am so sorry I missed you Shammy but we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off with eight 2 and 3 year olds racing and only 3 grooms and our trainer running around like a spinning top. They decided to put an official into the starting car so there was no room for spectators unfortunately. Both Saturday morning and all day Sunday was very cold and hard on the horses with no hot water to give baths with but we got a couple of bucket heaters and tried to make it work. We had a VERY good Sunday racing even though we were WAY under staffed. We were 1 and 2 in the 3 year old trotting colts final. 1, 2 & 4 in the 2 year old pacing fillies final. We should have some nice 3 year old fillies next year. The filly that won the 2 year old final will be going to Delaware to compete in their 2 year old sire stakes, I think in a week she should be good in there too.

I can tell you that unless we have babies in the sire stakes, we will not be going back to Oakridge this time of year unless some major improvements are made. We were lucky to find a hotel room in Lynchburg but that is a lot farther than we like to be from the horses and without hot water and with REALLY small stalls (some with tent poles in them) it was hard taking care of the horses.

[Shammy_Davis]

[QUOTE=cripplecreekfrm;8365807]
I am so sorry I missed you Shammy but we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off with eight 2 and 3 year olds racing and only 3 grooms and our trainer running around like a spinning top. They decided to put an official into the starting car so there was no room for spectators unfortunately. Both Saturday morning and all day Sunday was very cold and hard on the horses with no hot water to give baths with but we got a couple of bucket heaters and tried to make it work. We had a VERY good Sunday racing even though we were WAY under staffed. We were 1 and 2 in the 3 year old trotting colts final. 1, 2 & 4 in the 2 year old pacing fillies final. We should have some nice 3 year old fillies . . .

I can tell you that unless we have babies in the sire stakes, we will not be going back to Oakridge this time of year unless some major improvements are made. We were lucky to find a hotel room in Lynchburg but that is a lot farther than we like to be from the horses and without hot water and with REALLY small stalls (some with tent poles in them) it was hard taking care of the horses.[/QUOTE]

Not to worry. I knew you were very busy. Mrs Shammy’s family is from New England and I have been to Scarborough Downs on numerous occasions but even with the thin fields at Oak Ridge and the cold I really enjoyed myself immensely.

Thanks for posting your impressions about the meet. I am so sorry that the track conditions and facilities were so lacking. VA can do better. IMO canning the VEA is a first step and then compromise a comprehensive plan using Colonial Downs and I am no fan of how Colonial ownership has handled itself either. As you may know CD allowed some of its experience employees to help at Oak Ridge. Sadly you can’t make lemonade from onions.

Some years ago Robin Traywick, a former VRC chairman, responded to some negative articles about Colonial Downs and the racing legislation which might be of interest to you and other horsemen and women.

http://www.via.vt.edu/fall99/horse.html

Thanks for a fun day. You all showed great courage and perseverance.

[Shammy_Davis]

I took this link from a new racing thread on problems with the IN Racing Commission.

http://www.paulickreport.com/news/the-biz/commentary-horse-racing-regulators-should-not-be-promoters/

VA needs to recognize that the VRC maybe having the same problems. It has been reported that the VRC vice chair was personally involved and participated in the Colonial Downs and VEA negotiations most recently. The vice chair, as are all VRC members, was appointed as a regulator and he and other commission members might do well to step back and do what the legislation provides for. VRC members are not arbitrators, organizers, or promoters. The VRC is a regulatory commission and only that. Hopefully someone will inform them of the IN situation and make the connection for them that one or more of them is probably involved in an unlawful act. Even if well intended.

Even though the intent of VRC member or members to improve or find compromise maybe well intended and not malicious their involvement is not part of their legal duties and might well compromise the commission and its decisions in the future. It is appropriate for the VRC to encourage or mandate productive activity as it relates to horseracing but involvement in that productivity is questionable, if not unlawful.

There is no better example of regulatory over reach and corruption than in New England. As I recall NE before 1990 had 9 operating tracks. Today, NE has one track and it would not be an exaggeration that horseracing is almost extinct there. Maybe the next best example of what is killing horseracing is recent events in IN.

[Shammy_Davis]

Finally the transcript for the latest VRC October meeting. Reads like a “divorce court” proceedings. One of the last commission comments is a “thank you” for Colonial Downs and the VEA for working so hard on this issue. Just goes to show that when government officials thank you for hard work, you’ve probably gotten no where.

Love the part when the discussion of renting or leasing Colonial Downs is brought up. On a level of 1 to 10, VRC frustration was definitely a 8 or above.

Besides why would Colonial Downs want to give the VEA (or any group) a long term lease? Appears Jacobs is not thinking about racing, and besides that’s prime property very close to the expanding Williamsburg and greater Hampton Roads metro area?

http://www.vrc.virginia.gov/2015agendasminutes/October%2014,%202015%20VA%20RACING.pdf

Nothing was said about the Oak Ridge refugee situation. That would have definitely pushed the frustration level to a 10. You can’t help but wonder if the VRC and the VEA are not in collusion to conceal all the problems from the public.

And then there is this. The first issue in the VRC transcript is also very interesting and boggles the mind. From a vabred.org article: "[I]. . . Twin Spires, one of three ADW (Advance Deposit Wagering) companies permitted to take wagers in Virginia (along with TVG and XPressBet). Twin Spires has not paid the Virginia Equine Alliance (VEA) commissions due for the past three months. According to VRC Executive Secretary Bernie Hettel, “Twin Spires didn’t find the VEA to be a legitimate organization and thus has not paid. They will either pay up or face consequences”. A hearing date has been scheduled for November 17 as part of the next VRC meeting.

Jeb Hannum, Executive Director of the VEA, noted the three month total due from Twin Spires now stands at $264,597 — approximately $80,000 from July, $105,000 from August and $78,000 from September."[/I]

https://www.vabred.org/recap-of-october-14th-virginia-racing-commission-meeting-2-hearings-scheduled-for-november/

Although the VRC authorizes the VEA to speak for VA Horseracing, Twin Spires, a KY corporation, doesn’t considered the VEA legitimate. Is KY screwing with authority of Virginia government? Why not. Jeff Jacobs in CO is turning things upside down here.

[JJ_sLuckyTrain]

Shammy Davis – I am curious to know if you are a VTA member. I am and just received a ballot to vote on the board of directors. Some on the ballot are clearly geared towards rebuilding live racing.

[Shammy_Davis]

I am not. Many years ago I considered it but my initial impression was not positive. At that time, the leadership was closed to imaginative and progressive thinking. My wife referred to them as the champagne set. No need now as I am retired.

Simply, the current leadership is for the most part the same I saw 3 decades ago. It abdicated it’s responsibility then and continues to do so today. I am glad to hear there is VTA interest to return racing to VA but my sources tell me that it is key leadership in VTA, VHBPA, and VHHA that is sinking the possibilities because of stubborn same old thinking. VA horse racing, to survive, needs a strong breeding and training sector also. Both left VA decades ago because VTA leadership was doing their (breeding, sales & ownership) business in KY, MD, WV, etc. Now the total industry has collapsed. In an interview some years ago, former NTRA president D G Van Clief, Jr admitted as much in polite terms. Ironic as he, our current VRC VChair, recently said he was committed to saving it.

The renewal of live racing is not solely going to save the total collapse of Virginia’s TB industry now. The current plan is doomed without Colonial Downs. If you study the failure of racing in NE it gives you a very good idea of why the odds are against the renewal of any racing here. We have had the same thinking.

JMHO but if the VTA and the VHHA put there focus back on reestablishing a strong breeding and training sector there is chance racing might return. It will take decades though.

[Shammy_Davis]

As an example this Detroit article reads like it could have been written about the woes in VA.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20150510/NEWS/305109980/michigans-horse-racing-industry-looks-to-track-down-profits

*This link might not show the full article. Crainsdetroit is subscription. Try it and see what it displays. I’m searching to find a link that provides the full article without registering.

[cloudyandcallie]

At least Virginia is not letting anyone run a gelding in a mares/fillies claiming race as Ohio did recently.

[Shammy_Davis]

[QUOTE=cloudyandcallie;8390091]
At least Virginia is not letting anyone run a gelding in a mares/fillies claiming race as Ohio did recently.[/QUOTE]

No doubt about it, horse racing and it’s management on both the state and national is a mess.

It is my understanding that ID is without racing again having made a valiant effort to renew it at Les Bois.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/sports/article42482589.html

In October, the PA governor threatened that racing would be shut down if it didn’t get its financial house in order.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2015/11/ag_secretary_meets_with_breede.html

This is all so tragic. As a Virginian I am so disappointed in the direction our state industry has taken but you make the greater point that no sector of the nation’s industry is using any common sense.

[Shammy_Davis]

Came across this dated article that provides a number of views on the current state of VA horseracing.

http://www.theracingbiz.com/2015/09/28/graded-stakes-country-racing-and-virginias-future/

[Shammy_Davis]

Colonial Downs takes VRC to federal court in attempt to bring live racing back to VA.

http://m.richmond.com/business/article_2430b08e-dacb-50d3-b34c-df4324a57c80.html?mode=jqm

[Shammy_Davis]

Here is the website for the ODTHA which has apperently been formed to challenge the VEA and VTA and is referenced in the article linked previously.

http://www.odtha.com/

[Shammy_Davis]

The VRC is not doing its job. If as many say that horse racing is becoming a niche or boutique sport why not use it to the state’s advantage. Examples are Saratoga and Keeneland though both have history and strong industry support. Why not Colonial Downs? It is a beautiful safe facility.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/95952/colonial-downs-pursues-dates-through-court

It is not Jacobs’ fault that VA has both a failed TB and SB industry. Colonial Downs can’t be all things to VA horsemen.

I must say that I am skeptical of the new Old Dominion Thoroughbred Horsemen Association and its role in all of this. Established connections won’t buy into it. The VEA plan just won’t work and sooner or later what little light still flickering in the Old Dominion will go out.

[Shammy_Davis]

An article on the feud and bad blood. Very gloomy situation and when the dust settles the only live racing in VA will be steeplechase. This article imo is slanted against Jeff Jacobs because he didn’t sit for an interview leaving the VRC and horsemen leadership to do all the complaining.

http://www.pilotonline.com/news/horse-racing-in-virginia-hinges-on-track-owner/article_bd754930-b78e-5614-9c79-2007877d1b7e.html

[Shammy_Davis]

Today is going to be a long day for VA horse racing. There will be no winners at the end of today’s VRC meeting.

http://www.theracingbiz.com/2015/11/12/virginia-racing-commission-to-hold-five-key-hearings/

[Shammy_Davis]

Long day indeed.

http://m.roanoke.com/sports/racing-commission-rejects-colonial-downs-application-to-run-thoroughbred-races/article_59dd078b-f3cf-5410-8e27-cfa6cd9ea133.html?mode=jqm