TRF strikes back against Times falsehoods, NY AG suit

[Kasept]

Lost in last week's myriad of ongoing assaults against the industry was NY state, in concert with the Times, attacking the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. The TRF has aggressively responded with an open letter (with current photos of TRF horses at Wallkill) on their website answering the allegations by the Attorney General's office and the latest set of falsehoods from Joe Drape in his 5/3/12 smear.

Expecting Mike Lakow on ATR Friday to elaborate on the TRF's answer to this latest insult. (The letter is below if you don't want to follow the link.)

[Kasept]

OPEN LETTER FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

In March of 2011, the TRF was the subject of a front-page story in the New York Times, in a position and size normally reserved for the start of a war or a terrorist attack on American soil.

We now know that that factually incorrect and misleading story, and its equally prominent follow-ups, were the first salvo from the paper of record on the horse racing industry, and have now led to the Attorney General of the State of New York filing a lawsuit against the foundation and its board of directors.

The wording of the most recent New York Times story on the TRF, like all of those in its front-page horseracing series, is designed for the appearance of truth with the absolute intention of misleading the reader.

That intent is clear from the moment you look at the picture accompanying the latest attack on the TRF, which shows two horses in a field, and reads, "An emaciated horse under the care of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation at Wallkill Correctional Facility, in Ulster County, N.Y., in February." The photo credit is from the Ulster County SPCA.

Makes you think the TRF is not feeding its horses and that the Ulster County SPCA has swept in to save them. Right?

Want to know the true story?

At the Wallkill Correctional Facility Farm, the TRF and the inmates typically care for between 55 to 62 horses. Ten of them are over the age of 25. In the information leaked by the New York Attorney General (AG) to the New York Times, they included photographs taken of the two oldest horses at Wallkill during one of the AG's random inspections. The inspectors showed up at the farm and asked to see "the two worst horses" and they photographed them. The horses are Mornin' Jig and Sir Prize Birthday, ages 31 and 32, respectively.

No information was given to the reader by the New York Times about the horses themselves, their condition, their history or the amount of extra care they receive. No photos were released of the other old horses at Wallkill who tend to hold their flesh better in the winter than Jig and Sir Prize.

Does anyone wonder why that is? Did the TRF really single these two out to starve, while continuing to feed the others? That's what the New York Attorney General and the New York Times want you to think.

The farm manager and the inmates have been caring for Jig for 16 years, and for Sir Prize Birthday 20 years. The TRF has no reason to keep a horse alive with special care longer than it should. But the men who are with the horses every day know them intimately and they know when the time is right--just as you make such decisions about your own animals, on your farms and in your homes, every day.

In fact, Jig and Birthday are watched all day, and fed and handled twice daily. They receive eight pounds of special feed for senior horses, twice a day, apart from their pasture mates. Upon return to the pasture, they run back to their friends and interact like healthy, happy but aged horses. They are regularly checked by a veterinarian who helps the TRF make end-of-life decisions. The AAEP standards for euthanasia have been adopted by the TRF. Neither Sir Prize Birthday nor Mornin' Jig meet those standards. Some old horses look better than other old horses, and end-of-life decisions are made based on a horse's health, quality of life and its mobility. Aesthetics and fear of a sensationalist press are not acceptable reasons for destroying a horse. (Click here for a video of Wallkill's longtime farm manager, Jim Tremper, with Mornin' Jig.)

Those of you who work with horses every day know that horses who are pastured in a herd do not look like race horses or show horses who live inside under heating lamps in the winter, and that is particularly true of older horses. But the metropolitan readers of the New York Times probably don't know that, so it's interesting, to say the least, that that's the picture they chose to run, with a caption that doesn't say what it should: "Neither the Ulster County SPCA nor Attorney General recommended any other action be taken on these two very old but happy horses."

There are 55 horses at Wallkill and the AG was only interested in photos of the two oldest horses, and in leaking them with no background. We have included photos of other aged horses at Wallkill--a few of whom you may remember, or on which you may have made some money.

And here's what Jig and Sir Prize look like today, with their winter coats shedding.



But you don't have to believe the TRF board telling you that the entire herd of TRF retirees is in good to excellent condition and that the recent information distributed to the press from the New York State Attorney General's office was misleading. Over the last eight weeks, teams of licensed veterinarians have inspected the TRF farms and satellite facilities on behalf of Thoroughbred Charities of America, from which the TRF has applied for an annual grant.

On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the best, all TRF farms and horses scored a 4-5.The veterinarians evaluate the horses and, where necessary, make exceptions for aged horses. You can read these and other vet reports here.

The second misleading statement comes in paragraph five of the New York Times story, when the writer says, "According to the lawsuit, the board diverted money meant for horses to help repay personal loans taken out by two of its members." Makes you think that the board members took out personal loans for homes, or yachts, and then the board "diverted money meant for the horses" to repay those "personal" loans, right?

In fact, the loans were made to the TRF from the individual board members to help pay for the horses' care, and were only repaid when sufficient funds allowed for it. But that's not what the story would have you think. So why would the Attorney General and the Times word it in that way? Could it be to deliberately give people the wrong impression? Shouldn't we expect more from the "people's attorney"?

Last year's Times stories about the TRF, which prompted the Attorney General's suit against the foundation, offered much more of the same. The fabrications in the story are too numerous to list here, and the charges will be debated when the TRF has its day in court.The list of mischaracterizations and outright mistruths will be posted online within the coming weeks on the TRF's website.

But the essence of the strange case is the AG's claim that TRF is now and always has been "insolvent" and, accordingly, that this seven-person Board should now be totally replaced by persons of his choice. Step back from this and ask whether that makes even an iota of sense: while it's true TRF has never had much money in the bank on any given day, never once has TRF failed to pay a bill in the last 30 years. In fact, the TRF has paid $29,698,715 in horse care expenses over the last 20 years.

Much hay is also made of a statement that the TRF pays its satellite farms $3 per day, which is said to be below industry standard. This is misleading for several reasons. When the TRF did pay a standard rate of $3 per day, it was, and is, supplemented by vet care, farrier, vaccinations, dental work and in the case of a horse needing special care, an additional per diem amount. The TRF now pays various rates depending on the need of the farm, taking into consideration climate, availability of forage, the age and condition of the horses, etc. The farms that care for TRF horses do it well (see the vet reports) and they do it because they choose to. The horses are on pasture as much of the year as practical because it is the best way for them to be kept, and because many of the farms are large, it is done with an economy of scale.

With respect to the Mellon endowment, the TRF borrowed from the endowment with the written permission of Mr. Mellon's executors. They, by the way, have been adamant that the TRF make its payments on those loans every year and we have done so.

But it strikes us as ironic that while thousands of owners deliberately send their horses to slaughter every year, under unspeakable and abhorrent conditions, nobody is suing them. But when a board of a dozen or so people tried to step up and help and save others from that fate--spending their own money and thousands of hours of their time to rescue and rehabilitate those horses, they become the target of a vendetta of a news organization who clearly has it out for the racing industry.

The case is being made against horse racing in New York and throughout the country that it cannot regulate itself because among other things, the horses are being abused. The fallacious case against the TRF stating that its horses are neglected and that the TRF cannot raise the funds it needs from that racing industry to care for those horses are part of the larger case being made against racing.

Read the vet reports (here) and think about what is happening here.

--The TRF Board of Directors

[Cannon Shell]

I'm stunned that Joe Drape, the NY Times or politicians in NY would be less than truthful or driven by an unseen agenda.

Lets see what Gary Stevens has to say then we can all form our opinions...

[OldDog]

Originally Posted by Kasept

OPEN LETTER FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

A damn fine letter.

Expect no response in kind from mister drape.

It strikes me as nearly perverse that the states of Kentucky and New York are both so unkind to the industry.

[slotdirt]

Mr. Drape clearly has an agenda, and has proven to not let facts get in the way of moving forward with that agenda. I doubt he'll respond.

He's probably too busy exercising.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Expecting Mike Lakow on ATR Friday to elaborate on the TRF's answer to this latest insult. (The letter is below if you don't want to follow the link.)

Thank goodness you have the radio show, to try and counter this complete horse----. Will link it everywhere.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

I'm stunned that Joe Drape, the NY Times or politicians in NY would be less than truthful or driven by an unseen agenda.

Lets see what Gary Stevens has to say then we can all form our opinions...

A damn fine letter.

Expect no response in kind from mister drape.

It strikes me as nearly perverse that the states of Kentucky and New York are both so unkind to the industry.

if nothing else positive occurs, this latest row has convinced me to send a donation to TRF. perhaps it will encourage others to do likewise!


joe drape has won awards as a sports journalist. that's a shame.

[Kasept]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...-with-new-york

State of NY folds its' flimsy tent and withdraws. An utter joke as taxpayers fleeced for a pointless witch hunt and TRF forced to waste $750,000 defending itself against baseless charges.

[Danzig]

i'm glad it was resolved, with prejudice, but the financial cost was ridiculous.
how many horses could have been helped with that 750k? it's too bad they can't recoup the legal costs for a baseless suit being filed.

[Merlinsky]

I was rereading that letter from 2012, thinking about how much those jerks cost TRF, and it's jacking up my blood pressure. I can feel it.

This is never gonna happen, but if enough people dumped their subcription to the Times and applied the money they'd have spent on it or money they'd have donated to Cuomo's campaign and donate that to TRF instead, we can make up for the lost of funds and give a little karma. I'll give the Times some credit though. Their paper makes for excellent packing material.