House Subcommittee Hearings

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Travis Stone

I guess what I'm saying is people are really speaking-up about these issues now. But at the end of the day, what will come of it? Who takes the reins? Clearly our sport and industry has shown a significant inability to do so, so now the government is looking at holding our hand. If the government gets involved, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Personally I believe that most of what most people in the public really know about the issues is laughable. What horseracing really has failed at is PR. Most people within the industry seem not to be able to think for themselves, so it is not just the public. What many are forgetting is that there is more to racing than the Triple crown, Saratoga, Del Mar and the breeders Cup. there are hundreds of smaller track races every day. How are those tracks supposed to enact the same testing that will be done at Belmont? It is like saying that your single a minor league baseball franchise will be held to the same standards as the major league franchise. Who is going to pay for all of this?

[Travis Stone]

All of these posts in this thread by myself are talking well beyond just steroid testing. And you hit the nail on the head in this one, which what I'm saying.

PR is a foreign concept to horse racing. We realized that the hard way after the Derby when we, meaning every racetrack from LAD to Backyard Downs in South Dakota, was caught with our pants down. But reforms were made, tactics were organized, and we were more prepared shortly thereafter. Are we 100% now? Certainly not, but its a start.

It's like horse racing is a giant ship on the open seas with a multitude or organizations trying to control the udder. Eventually, someone has to come forward and mitigate the chaos. The chaos being everything from surfaces, to jockey weight, to signal disputes to steroids.

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Personally I believe that most of what most people in the public really know about the issues is laughable. What horseracing really has failed at is PR. Most people within the industry seem not to be able to think for themselves, so it is not just the public. What many are forgetting is that there is more to racing than the Triple crown, Saratoga, Del Mar and the breeders Cup. there are hundreds of smaller track races every day. How are those tracks supposed to enact the same testing that will be done at Belmont? It is like saying that your single a minor league baseball franchise will be held to the same standards as the major league franchise. Who is going to pay for all of this?

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Travis Stone

All of these posts in this thread by myself are talking well beyond just steroid testing. And you hit the nail on the head in this one, which what I'm saying.

PR is a foreign concept to horse racing. We realized that the hard way after the Derby when we, meaning every racetrack from LAD to Backyard Downs in South Dakota, was caught with our pants down. But reforms were made, tactics were organized, and we were more prepared shortly thereafter. Are we 100% now? Certainly not, but its a start.

It's like horse racing is a giant ship on the open seas with a multitude or organizations trying to control the udder. Eventually, someone has to come forward and mitigate the chaos. The chaos being everything from surfaces, to jockey weight, to signal disputes to steroids.

It simply is not that easy. First of all most of the issues have roots in money. secondly anything involving billion dollar industries will come with lawyers attached at the hip. Congress may have a lot of authority but many of the issues that our business has are ones of greed like just about every other business. You dont see Congress solving the gas price issue by passing a law saying that gas cant be sold for more than $2.00 a gallon do you? There is a limit to what they can and cant do. More importantly is the ability of the industry to adopt the regulations that they may enact. I have said a hundred times about this situation, who is going to pay for all of this and how do we know that the Federal board to regulate racing wont be filled in the same manner as the state racing commissions that have taken so much grief?