I wish to share with readers, remarks made by Arthur B. Hancock III regarding Lasix at a panel of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission this week.
I agree with Arthur’s views 100 percent, but could not have said it nearly as well. It is time for our sport to go back to the past and weed out the chronic bleeders as most major racing nations do.
From Arthur B Hancock III
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am a fourth generation horseman and I am here today because I love
the horse…….I love this industry and I feel that we’re in danger of losing it.
Sadly, statistics bear this out. The recent McKinsey Report on
Thoroughbred Racing points out that a vast majority of the population, over
75%, regards racing as a sport in which drug use runs rampant. The report
also says that this majority of the population has a very negative perception
of the sport…I think that is worth repeating…the vast majority of the
population has a very negative perception of our sport. How in the world
can we expect to thrive and be popular when a vast majority of the
population views us in such a negative light?
Another fact the McKinsey Report points out is that racing is losing
4% of its fan base a year. At this rate, the time will come when the business
of horse racing will not be sustainable….. and we’ll be out of business.
Remember, at one time we were the number one spectator sport in America.
This is indeed a very sad state of affairs.
But let me go back in time for a moment. In 1966, I went to work for
Eddie Neloy who was the leading trainer in the United States. No race day
medication was allowed. No Lasix, no Butazolidin, NO NOTHING. Fans
loved racing and Belmont Park was at capacity for the big race days. The
only time the veterinarians came to our barn was when a horse had colic, a
temperature, or an injury. Things have certainly changed in the last forty
years. Nowadays if you go to the backside at four in the afternoon you are
likely to see a veterinarian’s van parked at almost every barn.
At most race tracks in this country on most race days, 100% of the
horses are racing on butazolidin and 85-90% are racing on Lasix. If that is
an indication of the true level of soundness of our horses, we are in deep,
deep trouble.
Drugs are not free of charge. The only person who pays these bills is
the owner, and these bills can run a thousand dollars or more a month,
which can be up to twelve thousand dollars a year. If the training bill is
eighty dollars a day, which comes to thirty thousand dollars a year, then
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these vet charges of twelve thousand dollars add 40% a year to the expenses
paid by the owner for owning a racehorse. Race day lasix alone costs
owners one hundred million dollars a year. A lot of owners are leaving the
game because of these expenses, and a whole lot more are very unhappy
about them.
But that’s not the only concern about the drug issue. The public
doesn’t want it…. Period. That’s all that really matters because they are the
fans, and our fans keep us in business. Again, the McKinsey Report bears
this out. We have experienced a 37% drop in handle and a 30% drop in
attendance in the last decade alone. Only 22% of the general public has a
positive impression of our sport and only 46% of racing fans would
recommend our sport to others. What the McKinsey Report is saying in a
nutshell is that you cannot market a flawed product. You sell the sizzle and
not the steak. The fans have spoken. We must listen to our customers or
continue to lose them.
Many say the drugs these horses get are “therapeutic”. But,
therapeutic drugs are given to horses who are in therapy and who are
recovering from an illness or injury. Is every horse in every race ill or
injured? Therapeutic drugs, by definition, are used for healing and curing.
Drugs that mask pain and enhance performance are not “therapeutic”, they
are what they are….performance enhancing drugs.
I was speaking to English trainer John Gosden the other day and he
said the Europeans have a new name for The Breeders Cup…The Bleeders
Cup. What a sad commentary on our championship races. Don’t tell me
that if you give a horse lasix and it loses as much as twenty-five pounds that
this is not performance enhancing. If that’s the case, why even weigh the
jockey?
Ladies and Gentlemen, fifty years ago horses averaged 45 lifetime
starts and now they average 13 lifetime starts. Proponents will say that these
so called “therapeutic drugs” are needed to fill races, when the opposite is
obviously the case. Statistics prove it. Since 1960, the number of annual
starts has dropped from 11.3 per year to 6.23 in 2009….. a drop of nearly
50%. What in the world are we doing to ourselves? Imagine the economic
impact on owners and trainers alike, as well as the fans, whose heroes have
short lived careers.
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On another note, our horse sales were once driven by an international
market. This September, all the million dollar yearlings were bought by
Americans and this November only five of eighteen million-dollar mares
went abroad, notwithstanding the fact that dollars are very , very cheap. The
November sale has been good so far because the life’s work of some of our
top breeders and the pedigrees they’ve created have been on the block, but
watch and see what happens toward the end of the sale. We will be giving
horses away for nothing just as we did at the end of the September yearling
sales. It is difficult to attract investors when the vast majority of the
population has such a negative perception of our business.
In the words of a top Australian bloodstock agent, “You are isolating
yourselves, and while the international market will still buy broodmares and
an occasional well-bred yearling, they won’t purchase many horses in
training.” Why would they? American racehorses have been over-loaded
with drugs and we have bred five generations of drug dependent horses.
A top English bloodstock agent, Hugo Lascelles said, “We no longer
have the confidence in your stallions we used to have because we don’t
know if the horse’s performance was enhanced chemically or was natural, so
we are becoming more and more reluctant to purchase their offspring.”
Or perhaps Louis Romanet, chairman of The International Federation
of Horse Racing Authorities said it best, “How can we still recognize as
world champions, horses who run with medication?”
And what about the horse himself? We love our horses…. The
noblest of God’s creatures. There is a current attitude:“Drug ‘em, Break
‘em down and slaughter ‘em” And to those who do this to these noble
creatures, I say this … so dies the victim … so dies the vampire. And by
the vampire, I mean the industry that allows this to happen.
Now then, let’s take a look at just one of our competitors, NASCAR.
I personally remember when Kentucky horsemen laughed and talked about
those folks in North Carolina who were racing cars and trying to make it into
a business. Now look where they are and where we are.
Traffic is backed up for miles as thousands arrive at NASCAR events.
Major Companies and CEO’s sponsor and attend these events. Even more
telling is the ongoing planning for a private airport to support Kentucky
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Speedway, the NASCAR track just a few miles down the road from Turfway
Park, the weak sister thoroughbred track that is struggling to survive.
NASCAR needs this airport because there are so many planes coming into
greater Cincinnati that they get backed up both landing and departing.
NASCAR allows NO CHEATING and if you’re caught for even a
minor infraction, penalties are severe. NASCAR fans have confidence in
their sport. When the integrity of an industry is called into question time and
time again, the support for that industry will decline, and NASCAR knows
that. People who cheat repeatedly deserve no quarter. We need the squeaky
clean, milk mustache image that NASCAR has.
If you want our Kentucky Horse industry to survive and thrive, we
must do away with performance enhancing race day medications. Follow the
model set by Europe, Asia, Australia and the rest of the racing world.
Ladies and gentlemen, As “The Horse Capitol of the World” let’s lead
the way by becoming the first state and the first racing jurisdiction to do the
right thing. Let’s ban race day medication. Let’s rejoin the international
thoroughbred market with clean, medication-free rules of racing and horses
raced on their performance, and not on some drug they may have been
given. Let’s create a level playing field for everyone – horses, jockeys,
trainers, veterinarians, owners and fans alike….. And restore our reputation
around the world and with our fans here at home.
Thank you,
Good afternoon.
Arthur B. Hancock, III
November 14, 2011
Kentucky State Racing Commission
Frankfort, Kentucky
