David Stern Speaks at Pan Am Conference

by T.D. Thornton

National Basketball Association commissioner emeritus David Stern prefaced his candid remarks about Thoroughbred racing's hot-button issues by joking Friday morning that Pan American Conference attendees might throw things at him. But he wasn't kidding about what the sport needs to do to raise the industry's profile, both within the United States and globally, like Stern did with the NBA during his three-decade tenure. 

“If you asked the average reader of newspapers in the U.S. [what they think of the horse racing], they will start with a litany of drug [issues], all the sordid stories about retired horses [and the abuse of] the whip,” Stern said. “In the U.S., I think that image is not yet effectively attacked.” 

But, Stern cautioned, you can't just throw marketing dollars at problems to scrub the sport's public image. 
“There's nothing worse for a bad product than good advertising,” Stern quipped. 

During his 1980-2012 reign at the helm of the NBA, Stern said, “we improved the product because we were tired of people thinking that if you played in the NBA, you must be using drugs, and that we must be a group of thugs or punks.” 
The changes that the league emphasized, Stern said, ranged from “the integrity of our sport [to] the integrity of the process and the images of our players.” 

When Stern took over as commissioner some 35 years ago, the NBA was considered such a throwaway network television product that the league's final-round playoff games were sometimes shown on tape delay. 

In the early 1980s, Stern grew pro basketball's international image “country by painful country.” He had an epiphany when visiting the Soviet Union, where he was stunned to see that despite zero marketing in that part of the world, fans were avidly following the NBA through pirated broadcasts shown on Turkish television. 

“So you were getting a strong sense that media was going to propel all sports,” Stern said. 

By 1990, the NBA had struck partnership deals in China, and by the 21st Century, Stern said the league was well on its way to being the sports juggernaut it is today, with a presence in “250 countries in 40-something languages, and business is great.” 

Stern likened the NBA commissioner's office to how The Jockey Club might provide guidance to individual racetracks, with the obvious exception, he said, that he only had to work with 30 teams. 

“We started a department called 'team marketing and business operations,' not unlike The Jockey Club,” Stern said. “We work with all of our teams, because there's no reason [individual teams] shouldn't know what the best practices are.” 
At its most basic level, Stern said, brand awareness involves “marketing your players–or your horses–to give them heroic status, [to] get people interested in what goes on, on and off the court. These are complete soap operas, and every sport has many stories. People like to understand other cultures, and sports give them an opportunity to do it.” 

Stern cautioned horse racing executives not to overlook the value of marketing that involves community outreach. 

“One of the things that helped us an enormous amount was the program called 'NBA Cares,'” Stern said. “Governments and various agencies around the world understand that the NBA is aligned with a serious emphasis on social responsibility, and you'd be surprised how influential that is.” 

He gave the example of how when Yao Ming and Earvin “Magic” Johnson did community service spots for AIDS and HIV awareness, the response from fans nearly paralyzed the program's phone hotline. 

“We don't go anyplace or do an event without focusing on service to community,” Stern said. 

When asked directly if the growth of sports fantasy play should be considered a threat or an opportunity, Stern was emphatic: “Opportunity. Enormous opportunity,” he said. 

“Thoroughbred racing is actually one better than fantasy,” Stern said. “If you have an itch to gamble, you can scratch it directly.” 

“Fantasy is going to raise different issues, which is another way of getting people interested,” Stern continued. “There's a different revenue stream with respect to fantasy as opposed to advance-deposit wagering, and that would have to be worked out commercially between the parties.” 

But, he cautioned, with respect to other sports, “once fantasy has arrived, how far behind can outright betting be here in the United States?” 

If and when legalized sports betting arrives in the U.S., Stern said racing will lose its exclusivity on legal gambling, online or otherwise. 

“To me, that is the greatest lost advantage because Thoroughbred racing has always had that… Fantasy is demonstrating what the world already knows–everybody loves to gamble… This is a big deal, and I would say that's one place where marketing hasn't kept pace for Thoroughbred racing, except in places like Hong Kong. The U.S. itself is a wasteland when it comes to letting people know that they can bet.” 

Stern related a story of how he was in Australia in 1992 during the time the Melbourne Cup was going to be run, and he was unaware that the race figuratively stopped the nation. 

“That's pretty good marketing,” he recalled thinking at the time. 

With regard to leveraging emerging technologies, they're “quite easily manipulated,” Stern said. 

“You can do a lot with social media to engage,” he said. “And when [fans] can bet on top that?” 

Stern let the question linger rhetorically for racing dignitaries to ponder.

Janney: Our Med Policies Inferior to Rest of the World
Stuart S. Janney III, vice-chairman of The Jockey Club, led off his Pan American Conference speech on Friday about the reform of medication rules in North America by introducing international delegates to the oft-cited American wisecrack, “I'm from the federal government and I am here to help.” 

Despite the cultural differences, the nuanced sarcasm of the joke was not lost on the roomful of global racing representatives. It was an apt segue to Janney's explanation of why The Jockey Club is backing the concept of “reaching out to the federal government to help us solve the medication issue, and why will we rejoice if they agree to do so.” 

Last week, The Jockey Club placed the support of its institutional heft behind the announcement that Congressman Paul Tonko (D-NY) would be filing legislation to create a new regulatory organization called the Thoroughbred Horseracing Anti-Doping Organization (THADO), which Tonko wants governing the sport's drug rules by Jan. 1, 2017. 

In conjunction with Tonko's announcement, The Jockey Club partnered with the Breeders' Cup, the Humane Society of the United States, and the Water Hay Oats Alliance to form the Coalition for Horse Racing Integrity. That coalition's chief aim is to support THADO's uniform medication standards and its independent authority over rule-making, testing and enforcement. THADO will be created and overseen by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). 

“Our position is compelled by the situation we find ourselves in,” Janney said. “Our medication policies are inferior to the rest of the world. We are one of the few countries permitting raceday medication. Our fans are concerned about the integrity of the sport, and we are divided on exactly how to reform our medication policies.” 

Janney underscored that even though The Jockey Club is calling on legislators to pass reform measures, USADA “is not a government entity and works very effectively with many private enterprises, from the Olympics to major league sports.”
Janney detailed how in 2011 The Jockey Club introduced the Reformed Racing Medication Rules to provide a national medication rules framework, with input from the Racing & Medication Testing Consortium, the Association of Racing Commissioners International, and the International Federation of Horse Racing Authorities. 

“We had high hopes for uniform medication, but change for our industry under present conditions is difficult and actually getting to uniformity is almost impossible,' Janney said. “To wit, all 38 of our state jurisdictions have independent rule-making processes…Some racing commissions include active owners, trainers, veterinarians and jockeys, others not at all. In some states it takes approximately one year for a rule to become active after a commission vote… Many state racing commissions get a new chairman every time a new governor is elected. 

“No matter how good individuals or intentions may be,” Janney continued, “the system is antiquated and broken.”

WADA to Racing: 'Think like a Cheat' to Catch Dopers
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) director general David Howman urged Pan American Conference attendees to “think like a cheat” as a first step to curtailing doping in horse racing. 

Although WADA does not currently oversee any Thoroughbred racing anti-doping programs (WADA does hold some equestrian event testing contracts), Howman gave insights as to how the racing industry can model its anti-doping initiatives after fundamentals that WADA has implemented in other sports to bring international consistency to policies and regulations. 

“The sophistication of doping has increased rapidly,” Howman said. “Some will say it's as a result of the work that we do, that we've driven people to be more sophisticated, and that's probably true. But they've also been driven into it by the huge rewards you can make in sport. 

“It's not like it was when we started on the playground and it was a leisure activity,” Howman continued. “There's a lot of money to be made by athletes. There's a lot of money to be made by coaches. That leads to issues.” 

WADA's $29-million annual budget, Howman said, is dwarfed by what some individual athletes make in a year, so WADA has learned to be creative in spreading around its resources. 

“One of the obligations we had was to show athletes of the world that no matter where you train, there would be an anti-doping program,” Howman said. 

To that end, instead of establishing country-specific organizations, WADA has relied on a fewer number of regional regulatory bodies. 

Howman said another way to leverage regulatory powers is by realizing that governments and sporting authorities together can provide specialized spheres of influence that either entity alone can't.

“Sport recognizes that they can not get the police to work with them. The government, of course, can,” Howman said. “Sport can sanction people for a period at sporting events. Governments can't. So you see, one party can do one set of things, and the other party can do another set of things.” 

It also helps, Howman said, that WADA is a nimble enough of an organization that it can move fast to add emerging drugs to the banned substances list, like it did with xenon gas when WADA learned it was being used as a performance-enhancer at the Sochi Olympics. 

“It's important for our researchers to realize that they're not thinking what a decent person might do,” Howman said. “We have to make them think, 'What would a cheater be thinking?'” 

For example, Howman said, when EPO blood doping first appeared on the radar screen of testers years ago, a common belief among regulators was that it would only be used in long-distance endurance sports–which, of course, turned out not to be the case. 

“We are made up of committed people in the organization who come from places of strong values and strong commitment to doping-free sport,” Howman said. “Many of them have never seen somebody behave like a criminal. They don't understand the criminal mind. I have been trying to teach [WADA employees} that to be able to combat evil, you have to know what evil is. We have to recognize that people are trying to get an edge from doing something that is beyond the rules, and that anything they think is an edge is what they will try to achieve.” 

Howman concluded by expressing his belief that the fight against sports corruption goes beyond just trying to catch drug cheats. 

“The area of integrity in sport is a vital cornerstone of the values of sport, and that includes the sport that you are all involved in,” Howman told the Pan Am delegates. “If we lose integrity, we lose a considerable foundation of work that we try to do to ensure that sport is enjoyable, not only by those who play it, but those who watch it. 

“[WADA] has the duty of ensuring that people don't cheat by taking performance-enhancing substances,” Howman said. “Who has the job of driving out corruption? Who has the job of getting rid of match fixing, illegal betting and so on? Nobody. Why is there not some international body for the protection of sport integrity?”

OSAF Countries Now Lasix-free in Stakes Races
As of this month, the member racing countries of the South American Organization for the Promotion of Thoroughbreds (OSAF), have completed a three-year gradual elimination of furosemide (Lasix) in all listed and graded stakes races. 
Dr. Mayra Frederico, DVM, who is also the manager of the races at Jockey Club Brasileiro, confirmed the Lasix-free initiative in a Friday presentation before the Pan American Conference. 

Although the South American countries worked on different Lasix-elimination schedules–some started banning the anti-bleeding medication based on horse age, or the level of stakes race–one conclusion was constant, Frederico said: “Banning furosemide didn't decrease the number of runners per Group 1 and Group 2 races.” 

The reduction of starters is often cited as a concern in the United States whenever the topic of eliminating Lasix comes up. 

“The main message I'd like to let you know is that if we can do it, all the South American countries, the United States–you can do it,” Frederico said. “Don't be afraid. It is possible. We know you have different laws in different states, but if you're willing to do it, you can get there.”
 
Tops Jocks Weigh in on the Future of Race Riding 
A trio of esteemed current and former jockeys–John Velazquez, Ramon Dominguez , and Chris McCarron–gave Pan American Conference attendees a glimpse inside the lives and minds of riders Friday, detailing how they first got into the saddle and what best practices could be adopted to ensure the safety and success of the next generation of jockeys. 

“Years ago I recognized that the learning curve for jockeys is quite difficult,” McCarron said. “A lot of the veteran riders would be quite willing to offer advice to the younger riders until something magical happens. When you start winning, the advice becomes a little bit less and happens less often.” 

That experience, in part, is what put the idea into McCarron's head to launch the North American Racing Academy in Kentucky in 2006. 

In 1980, a dozen years before his retirement, McCarron was lying in a hospital bed recovering from two broken legs sustained in a riding accident, contemplating what he would do after his career in the saddle was over. 

“And I determined I could either train horses or train people, and everybody in this room knows it's easy to train horses,” he joked. “So I wanted a real challenge, and I decided I would eventually open a school.” 

Dominguez said that beyond actual horsemanship skills, it is important for young riders to learn communication skills, finance management and nutrition basics. 

“The second-most difficult thing about being a successful race-rider is acquiring the best mounts,” McCarron said. “The most difficult thing about being a successful race-rider is keeping them.” 

That's because, all three jockeys agreed, too many jockeys don't know how to give honest, objective feedback to trainers after a race or a workout. 

McCarron said he would often hear a rival losing jockey criticizing a mount to a trainer after a race–which prompted him to tell his agent to go to talk to that trainer to land a possible live mount, “because I knew that jockey wasn't going to be asked to ride that horse back.” 

Velazquez said the word “but”–as in “the horse ran a good second, but…” seems to put the blame on the conditioner as to why the horse didn't win. 

Velazquez didn't speak English regularly until after he came to the United States from Puerto Rico. Dominguez said he spoke only a few words of English before coming to America from Venezuela, even though his mother taught English in his native country. Both said needing to learn a new language was a barrier, but one that could be overcome. 
At his academy, McCarron said “one thing that I did learn through my experience teaching is that a sense of balance is like a singing voice–you either have one, or you don't.” 

McCarron also spoke out about the use–or overuse–of the whip, and how jockeys have to be cognizant that times are changing and that there is greater public focus on animal welfare. 

“I think the use of the crop has become very controversial issue,” McCarron said. “I'm an advocate for making sure that jockeys use the stick judiciously and only when necessary. What I would like to see is officials come up with some kind of a plan where they can reprimand and penalize riders for over-use of the stick.” 

Regarding raising the scale of weights, Dominguez said it's a system based on the body size of riders from over a century ago and that there is “definitely room to evolve.” 

But McCarron said raising the scale to higher weights will still mean that some riders are always going to be on the cusp of making weight, so he doesn't know how effective that might be. 

Dominguez added: “But at same time, as a jockey, I'd rather reduce to 125 pounds than reduce to 115 pounds.”
 
Longines Details New Positioning System 
A new player has emerged in the timing and tracking sector: The Longines Positioning System (LPS) was detailed at Friday's Pan American Conference by executives from Swiss watchmaker Longines and the clocking and data handling firm Swiss Timing. 

The technology was tested under race conditions in Australia in April at Royal Randwick during the running of the Longines Queen Elizabeth S., said Alain Zobrist, chief executive officer of Swiss Timing. 

Similar to the Trakus system employed at tracks worldwide, LPS uses radio frequency transceivers with rechargeable batteries that weigh 60 grams and are located in a small pocket within a horse's saddle towel. 

During the running of a race, an integrated antenna on the transceiver communicates up to 1,000 data points per second, including positional and speed data, to 20 receiving antennas positioned around the racecourse. 

“It enables us to evaluate the speeds, the gaps, and the intermediate times of every single horse anywhere on the racetrack,” said Zobrist. “And to share it to a multitude of tablets, such as additional data on the video boards, enhanced graphics on TV, real-time data to journalists, or a very detailed post-race analysis.” 

Zobrist continued: “The interesting thing now is that we can play around with that data. For example, 3-D models that can be used for second-screen applications. We might include performance ratings or comparisons of an individual horse, or reviewing the performance and behavior of a horse in specific race phases.”