Letters to the Editor: Gary Biszantz
I applaud the TDN Publisher Barry Weisbord for his proposal for racing as a response to the ugly PETA expose on our sport of Thoroughbred racing. I know many of my respected colleagues, such as Arthur Hancock, George Strawbridge, Bill Casner, Barry Irwin and many other owners share Barry’s thoughtful response.
In 2002, Dinny Phipps, chairman of The Jockey Club, asked me if I would like to address the annual Round Table Conference, my subject being medication and drugs at the racetrack. I asked Dinny if he wanted to review and approve what I said and he responded that he trusted me!
My presentation was based on 50 years of winning races, breeding Thoroughbreds, buying, selling and participating in all aspects of our great sport.
The essence of my talk was as follows: Webster defined therapeutic simply, “to heal an injury or illness.” Years ago, the veterinarian community conveniently redefined Webster’s definition with the sole purpose of getting Lasix approved along with an abundance of therapeutic medications which help cure illnesses and speed healing of injuries. With their new definition, vets, usually under the direction of the trainers, were able to use more medications close to race day and in some cases on race day.
Owners were assured that horses would race as often, field sizes would increase, horses careers would last longer, and we now know that was all untrue. The only thing that became true was owner vet bills skyrocketed and many vets did quite well financially.
The PETA expose clearly illustrates what can happen when wrongful use or excessive use of medications, coupled with the need to win, overtakes proper and honest care of the horse and legitimate use of therapeutic medication.
I illustrated my talk at the Round Table in Saratoga Springs by asking the audience to imagine the following scenario: A quality Thoroughbred sprinter is running six furlongs in 1:09.2 with nine horses chasing him. He’s on Lasix and a variety of therapeutic drugs which are not supposed to be performance enhancing. Do any of you believe that this performance is helping to heal an injury or cure an illness? Of course not, the scenario was designed to either be performance enhancing or getting a horse to the races that needed help to perform. I don’t like either option. Horses should be clean of drugs on race day.
The major problem we are dealing with is who makes the decision on race day medications. Presently trainers and vets are in charge and owners just believe what they are told.
Years ago owners abdicated their role by allowing the local HBPA organizations across the United States to be dominated and controlled by trainers, as the Horse Racing Act of 1978 defines “horsemen’s group.” Those two words in the law should have been deleted and replaced with “owners,” the true investors in the sport of horse racing. If a majority is to occur on HBPA boards, it should be the owners!
Owners should have the authority to negotiate purses, rules and the conditions of racing; trainers should manage the horses, the backstretch and the track conditions. We got it mixed up years ago and we are paying the price for it today.
I respect trainers, vets, and grooms who work with the horses. They are skilled and if the rules were corrected and enforced, our problems would be greatly diminished. What is required now more than ever is leadership by owners and their ability to stand together. Horse racing should be clean of drugs and medications on race day. Therapeutic medicine should be used to get a horse sound enough to race. The injury or illness should have been healed. Performance enhancing is not healing!
We need a new model for Thoroughbred racing in America. The publisher is correct, his ideas are sound and reasonable. The public deserves a clean sport, one to wager on with trust and one that treats the athlete properly.
We have had great leaders in our industry over the years, many of which I’m proud to have known such as John Gaines and Ed Friendly, who tried years ago to change the direction of our great sport. The industry wouldn’t budge and we see the results.
How long will it take for the industry to realize we need a major league with well-defined rules and a commissioner to enforce the rules? A national racing schedule from the Kentucky Derby to the Breeders’ Cup with great races distributed equally and fairly to the participating major league tracks. National television network coverage to show our marquee events–all of our top races are home runs! Rules of racing that will ensure that horses run drug free and clean of medications on race day and the public who wager on our sport would trust that PETA doesn’t have another story to embarrass our industry.
I’m getting on in years, but I’m also mad as hell!
Gary E. Biszantz
Cobra Farm
Lexington, Kentucky