Op/Ed

Where one lives can change one's perspective. Six years ago we moved from Lexington, Kentucky to the Tennessee county with the lowest population density and lowest per capita income of any county in a state where per capita income as a whole is 13.2% lower than the national average, according to 2010 census data. As a direct result of that move, my immediate, gut reaction to last week's brief suspension of exports of horses for slaughter to Canada was different than it might have been had I remained surrounded--insulated, actually--by...

Thoroughbred owner Jack Wolf, Darley President Jimmy Bell, and Jockey Club President James Gagliano deserve accolades for pulling together the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance for retired Thoroughbred horses who have performed so admirably at the race tracks in America.

My Op/ed of September 27th detailed the fact that breeders lost more than $100 million in this year's Keeneland September sale. It's even scarier that breeders collectively lost a half billion dollars over the last four years.

Orfevre, 2011 Japanese Horse of the Year and Triple Crown winner, is the likely favorite for Sunday's Qatar G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Europe's richest and most prestigious weight-for-age race. No Japanese horse has ever won the Arc, but Orfevre's attempt is hardly a one-off, and if it does not happen this year, it is going to happen soon.

So Andrew Cuomo wants to privatize NYRA, sell it to the highest bidder, which he figures will be any one of a dozen major companies who will be beating down the door of his Albany office with checkbooks in hand. Perhaps there is someone or some company out there who will want to buy NYRA, but that's only because the world is filled with gullible people.

The Keeneland September sale is now in the record books and the dust is settling. How it went pretty much depends on who you talk to and their particular reality and agenda or intention to spin.

In 1994 the Thoroughbred industry was in recovery mode. After reaching then-record heights in the mid-1980s, bloodstock lost about 35% of its value by 1992, but the tide had turned in 1993 as pinhookers reinvested profits and the optimism of racehorse owners rode the Clinton economic recovery.

As racing in New York is in full Saratoga swing, change is coming to NYRA. Governor Cuomo is on the verge of appointing new board members and managers to solve NYRA's most basic operational problems. What remains to be seen is if the Governor has the vision and conviction to bring in real change agents to the NYRA Board and executive suite.

I watched the CNBC special about Costco the other night. The story looked at what exactly the business does, how it brands, how it sells, and most of all, how it keeps prices low to grow.

When Chris Christie became the 55th Governor of the State of New Jersey, he was faced with many problems and forced to make immediate decisions that could either help get his state back on track during difficult times or further its trouble. Few situations would test Christie's foresight and his ability to make tough, but correct calls than that of the state's complex and struggling gambling industries, which needed fixing.

A 2009 study of the Medical Journal of Australia found that being a jockey is more dangerous than being a boxer, with only the job of an offshore fisherman having more risk to lives. I suppose that being a race rider is probably safer in the USA, though 19% of the active riding members of the Jockeys' Guild were out for some time on temporary disability.

Once again, Rob Whiteley has written a great article on what to do to raise funds to save and rehabilitate, when possible and appropriate, the retired Thoroughbreds who have given us so many thrills and enjoyment (Au Currant, TDN Op/Ed, April 27, 2012).