NEWS AND NOTES FOR NOVEMBER 7, 2014
RETAMA PARK TO HONOR MILITARY
Tonight, Retama Park will honor veterans and active duty military personnel by offering a complimentary buffet from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. as well as a special recognition ceremony before race 4, the “Salute to Our Heroes Dash”.
TTA BOARD OF DIRECTORS ELECTION
You should be receiving your ballots this week for the TTA Board of Directors Election. Candidates are vying for 7 vacancies (5 state-wide seats and 2 regional seats) on the 21-member Board, to serve 3-year-terms to begin in January 2015.
Statewide candidates include Mike Danapas of Tyler, Ed Few (incumbent) of Jasper, Danny Keene of Greenville, Tom Keith of Coppell, Wes Melcher of Sulphur Springs, R. L. Rieger of Ft. Worth, Brent Savage of Cypress and Fred Taylor Jr. of Ft. Worth. Central Region nominees are Tom Bradfield DVM (incumbent) of Austin and Tracy Sheffield of Wimberley. East Region candidates are Teofilo Mallet of Hempstead and Hal Wiggins (incumbent) of Houston.
All TTA members must vote for 5 statewide candidates from the list of 8 nominees. Only residents of the Central and East Regions can elect their single respective Regional Director. All ballots must be received in the pre-addressed envelopes provided, no later than December 15th.
Ballots will be tabulated in the TTA offices on December 17 by staff and directors who are not up for re-election, following protocol for local Texas county election tabulation. If you would like to participate in the process as an observer, please contact Mary Ruyle at 512.458.6133.
TTA ONLINE AUCTION OF 2015 STALLION BREEDINGS
The first round of bidding in TTA’s online auction of 2015 stallion breedings closed Monday afternoon, with 13 seasons sold for a total of $18,900. Seasons sold include those to Commitment, Early Flyer, Expect a Lot, Grasshopper, Jet Phone, Moro Tap, Mr. Besilu, My Golden Song, Silver City, Storm Broker (2 seasons), The Hunk and Too Much Bling.
A second round of internet bidding will open on Monday, November 17th. A complete list of seasons is available at https://texasthoroughbred.com/stallion-register/online-stallion-auction/.
TTA NIGHT AT THE RACES
All TTA members are invited to join us at Retama Park on Saturday, November 15th for an evening of fine dining and live racing. The race card will feature the Darby’s Daughter and My Dandy divisions of the Clarence Scharbauer Jr. Texas Stallion Stakes Series.
A special section of the Terrace Dining Room will be reserved for TTA members and their guests to enjoy a fabulous dinner buffet. Your $14.95 package includes the buffet and a racing program. Also, courtesy of EquineSavings.com, TTA members in attendance will be entered into a prize drawing to take place in the Winner’s Circle between divisions of the Texas Stallion Stakes.
Call 1-210-651-7000 to make reservations, no later than 5pm Central on Wednesday, November 12th.
TAHC UPDATE ON PIROPLASMOSIS; ECVI INSPECTION
The Texas Animal Health Commission has designated Brooks County as a high risk county for exposure to Equine Piroplasmosis and will begin testing equine (horses, donkeys, mules, ponies and zebras) there on Friday, November 14th.
TAHC is now offering electronic Certificates of Veterinary Inspection (eCVI’s), which will enable: 24 hour availability; automatic forwarding to TAHC and state of destination; automatic compliance with federal requirements to forward copy of interstate certificate of veterinary inspection to destination states within seven days of issuance; improved legibility; entry or importation of multiple identification numbers (official and unofficial); ability to import eCVI information from a spreadsheet; all resulting in cost savings.
The TAHC continues to offer paper certificates of veterinary inspection for the same price as the electronic version. Each certificate costs seven dollars.
Veterinarians may purchase electronic or paper certificates of veterinary inspection on the TAHC website at http://www.tahc.texas.gov/cvi/cvi.html or call 1-800-550-8242 ext: 788.
THE IMPORTANCE OF “EVENT DAYS”
Daily Racing Form’s Dick Jerardi penned an interesting article on the value of event days to horse racing.
He said, “Whenever anybody asks me about the state of horse racing, I tell them it is an event-driven sport without enough “events.” Everyday racing no longer sells. Events sell more than ever. It is why Keeneland, Del Mar, and Saratoga remain so popular. They are unique, and their meets are not endless.”
Jerardi lives in Pennsylvania, where racing is a year-round sport at Parx and Penn National. The two tracks have created events to spark and retain interest in the sport. First, Parx put the Cotillion and Pennsylvania Derby on the same September Saturday in 2012, two $1 million races back to back as a final Breeders’ Cup prep for straight 3-year-olds. Last year, Penn National created Penn Mile Day, featuring a 1-mile stakes race for 3-year-olds on grass between the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
Parx created buzz in 2012 and 2013, and then had a $10-million handle day in 2014 when Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome and Kentucky Oaks winner Untapable appeared at the track, located just north of the Philadelphia line.
Penn National put its Mile with a few other stakes and instantly had a serious day as everyone caught their breath between Triple Crown races.
So how successful have these Pennsylvania “events” become in just a few years? This year, the winners of the three races accounted for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Distaff, and Turf Sprint.
Jerardi says, “That is how you promote your races.”
NOTES: The Arkansas Racing Commission has passed an RCI model rule calling for all raceday Lasix to be administered by the veterinary staff members of the commission, rather than private racetrack practitioners. The new rule will become effective January 9th…Quanah County sold on Monday as hip #170 at Keeneland for $210,000 to Twin Hopes Farm/Helen T Andrews. In foal to Malibu Moon, Quanah County, a 2001 Texas-Bred daughter of Valid Expectations, is the dam of six foals to race with two of them earning over $100K. Her daughter by Smoke Glacken, Quantum Miss, sold two hips later for $280,000…Congrats to Retama Park leaders, based on wins as of November 2: Jockey David Cabrera with 33 wins, trainer Danny Pish with 17 wins, and owner Terry Eoff with 8 wins…Best of luck to Accredited Texas-bred Runaway Bling (Too Much Bling – Runaway Cater) entered in the $100,000 Clever Trevor Stakes at Remington Park tonight. A homebred for Hall’s Family Trust, the 2-year-old colt will be saddled by Danele Durham.