California stakeholders ready 'compelling argument' to resume races

The Thoroughbred Owners of California conducted a teleconference call for stakeholders in California racing Friday with a detailed presentation segment followed by a lengthy question and answer session.

Hosted by TOC President and CEO Greg Avioli, presentations were given by TOC Chairman Nick Alexander; TOC Director Gary Fenton; Stronach Group CEO Craig Fravel; Executive Director of California Racing Operations for the Stronach Group Aidan Butler; President of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club Josh Rubinstein; and Executive Vice President for Racing and Industry Relations Tim Robbins.

The Thoroughbred Owners of California is a group tasked with representing the interests of California Thoroughbred owners in efforts to maximize purse revenues as well as to preserve the viability of the sport in the long term.

The stated agenda items for the call were to update the status of: racing and training at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos, training at the two auxiliary training facilities (San Luis Rey and Los Alamitos), Golden Gate racing and training, the upcoming California Authority of Racing Fair season and a review horse counts in the state.

“Our number one goal is to be racing again," Alexander said in his opening remarks. "The fact we were shut down, we felt, was the work of one bureaucrat that made a very bad decision."

“The head of the Los Angeles County Health Department decided (racing at Santa Anita) was not an essential need, even though it keeps over 1,000 people employed right there at the racetrack,” Alexander said.

Santa Anita had no reports of COVID-19 cases and was training in the morning and racing in the afternoons with no spectators. The Health Department will hear arguments from Santa Anita officials no earlier than April 18.

“We thought, and continue to think we have had a very compelling argument, not only for the continuation of training, which to this point has gone unquestioned in any of our jurisdictions...there hasn’t been any challenge at this point to the continuation of training and the care of horses as we have traditionally done it,” Fravel said.

Fravel also stated that The Stronach Group had developed protocols for social distancing, hygiene and other practices, including contingency plans to house people on site and increase the level of quarantine.

Fravel surmised that public health authorities make blanket decisions and are “more interested in the optics of that activity (horse racing) continuing.” He also stated he had many reasons to believe a “very small group of animal rights activists were heavily engaged in having input into various agencies that ultimately had some impact.” 

Fravel also mentioned that Golden Gate Fields track physician Dr. David Seftel has reviewed the Stronach Group’s proposed safety protocols. 

The physician, an infectious disease specialist, is a member of the Stanford University Medical School COVID-19 committee. The Stronach Group is attempting to have Dr. Seftel establish a dialogue with the Los Angeles County Health Department, informing the department that Santa Anita has been provided professional medical guidance.

Butler said he had developed a few scenarios that could be presented to the health department.

“One would be really a complete quarantine environment," Butler said. "We have had chats with the Jockeys’ Guild. We could go as far as to have the jockeys living on site at Santa Anita in a separate quarantined area on the backside."

“We will provide a very detailed approach. Not just a good plan, but a plan with map and drawings and medical professionals having weighed in,” Butler said about an upcoming meeting with health officials.

Avioli then mentioned the plight of Post Time, the insurance cooperative owned and operated by the California trainers, which last week sent a note out to membership that there was a projected cash shortfall (in operating cash as well as reserves). That cash shortfall necessitated a $1,233-per-stall, per-trainer fee to bring the self-insurance group into compliance to the State of California minimum insurance reserve requirements.

Avioli announced that funds have been identified from “other industry resources” – which Avioli referred to as the “industry alphabet soup organizations” – to fund the shortfall without requiring the trainers to foot the bill.

Avioli also mentioned that training is currently ongoing at three Southern California sites: Santa Anita, San Luis Rey and Los Alamitos.

“There is a chance we will consolidate, from three sites to two sites, so basically Santa Anita plus one,” Avioli said in regard to the immediate future of training.

Rubinstein was a bit more optimistic given the timeline for racing at his track.

“From Del Mar’s perspective, the good news is our scheduled opening day on July 18 is 14 weeks from now," Rubinstein said. "Time is on our side. We are hopeful that the summer meet will go on as scheduled.

"We are currently working on a detailed plan of procedures and protocols to operate racing and training.”

Larry Swartzlander, Executive Director of CARF, spoke in the early potion of the question and answer session on the plight of the California Authority of Racing Fairs.

“Currently, we plan to open Pleasonton on June 1 with the races beginning on June 19," Swartzlander said. "Obviously that is coming into jeopardy.

"We are certainly working on protocols, working with the safety personnel and commissioners of the counties to assure we can continue to race."

Avioli added that there would remain a place for horses to train in the northern part of the state.

“Golden Gate has committed that until the fair racing starts, it will stay open (for training)," Avioli said. "There is not going to be a situation where if the fair racing is delayed...we’ll make sure we currently have a place for the horse that are currently at Golden Gate."

Currently, there are 2,226 horses training in Southern California – 1,536 at Santa Anita, 300 at San Luis Rey and about 400 at Los Alamitos. 1,322 horses are training at Golden Gate.

“We have to have 2,000 horses in active training in Southern California to hit the ground running,” Avioli said.