Leading trainers MARK CASSE and KEVIN ATTARD joined Woodbine CEO JIM LAWSON on the latest STRONGER TOGETHER panel on Wed., Sept. 16.
Topics discussed ranged from how racing dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic at the outset, what is happening now and moving towards 2021. Lawson emphasized that it has been vital that the provincial government has been supportive of racing and “appreciates” how important the industry is to the province.
“I think we look good for the future,” said Lawson. “Our brand has grown; the Standardbred racing brand has taken off to the point that I believe Woodbine Mohawk is THE number 1 destination for the sport.”
Much of the discussion was on the theme of ‘change’ which has been a specialty of Woodbine Entertainment. Topics presented to Casse and Attard as well as Lawson by moderator Jason Portuondo included advancements in technology, Category 1 vs Category 2 rules for disqualification of horses and a current hot topic, eliminating claiming races.
Casse believes that implementing a class system for racing, rather than claiming races, would give more opportunities for horses to race and for people to get involved in purchasing a horse through a ‘horses for sale’ website at tracks.
Claiming races, he says, continue to be problematic in various circumstances.
“We saw it during the yearling sales stakes here. A horse runs a couple of times, is claimed and then it wins a stakes race. Does that help the industry?”
He notes that horses are sometimes put into claiming races at any cost just to have them claimed, which is does not benefit the welfare of the horse.
Casse is a proponent of a class system, such as A, B, C, D for races in which a horse that wins at one level will go up a class and if it loses, goes down a level.
“There are so many stables that have lots of horses that could go on a website at a track and be offered for sale. For example, a stable like Darley that would have horses in the $20,000 range. We have a serious problem right now; there are lots of horses that are in the barn and not running.”
Casse said he would like to see Woodbine have an online site where people can purchase a horse. “Maybe the big owners don’t want to hang on to the cheaper horses; this way they can put it up for sale on a website. If more than one person wants it, then you have a time limit and bidding.”
Indeed, new owners who get into the racing game and claim their first horse might be mystified if the horse has to run back for half of the claimed price, should the horse not be a good claim. Casse said that with buying a horse on a website and having it vetted assures a new owner at least it will have a class to run in and not be claimed away.
Attard disagrees with the class scale for racing.
“If you want to get a new owner in the business it is much easier to sell them on claiming a horse and have a good chance that that horse will race again in three weeks time,” said Attard. “It is hard to take a new owner to a sale, for instance, and hope the horse makes it to the races.”
Attard, who has made a successful career out of claiming horses, such as current Horse of the Year Starship Jubilee, equated claiming horses to buying a car. “Claiming horses is similar to buying a car privately; there is no warranty and you have to be prepared that the claim won’t work out.”
“With claiming races you are racing your horse at the level you think they are worth.”
Casse added a rebuttal, saying, “I am not suggesting that people go out and buy yearlings. My suggestion is if all of North America were to adopt class racing and they had ways to put horses up for sale, that would present more horses for more owners. There would be hundreds of horses for sale. Then if you race a horse in a C class three times, say it doesn’t hit the board, then you would drop it to D class.
“I just believe that as we lower down these horses in claiming price, and each race is so important, we are forgetting about the welfare of the horse.”
Waiver claiming races were discussed also – races which are offered at some tracks and allow for horses to not race for a claiming price coming off a layoff.
Lawson noted that Woodbine has business transformation groups currently working on classification of races, problems with claiming races, and horses that are not running enough.
“Horse supply and attracting horses to Woodbine, getting more people involved in the business is crucial. Both Mark and Kevin make good points for both sides and we are committed to change.”
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