Patrick Cummings

Despite broad Thoroughbred industry support, those who seek to keep the slaughter pipeline active are flexing their muscles in Washington D.C. in the hopes of trying to kill progress. One such group is the Public Lands Council (PLC), a nonprofit representing cattle and sheep farmers who graze herds on public land. The National Thoroughbred Alliance sent a letter to the PLC's executive director Kaitlynn Glover, reprinted below for industry awareness, after a PLC publication indicated their active opposition to the Van Drew--Titus Amendment which passed last week, calling these accomplishments...

Early Friday morning, the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed a surface transportation reauthorization bill that includes a bipartisan ban on transporting horses for slaughter, according to Chris Heyde, who runs the governmental affairs firm Blue Marble Strategy, and who has long worked on the ban, and Patrick Cummings of the National Thoroughbred Alliance. The Van Drew-Titus amendment to the Build America 250 Act, HR 8870, shares the identical language of the Save America's Forgotten Equines Act--the SAFE Act, which has 229 cosponsors in the House. The bill would...

Patrick Cummings and Sarah Williams have been elected to the board of directors of the Retired Racehorse Project. Cummings is the executive director of the National Thoroughbred Alliance, a consultative organization founded by owner Mike Repole. Prior to launching the NTA, Cummings led the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation during its five-year operation. In previous roles, Cummings managed the Hong Kong Jockey Club's racing public affairs team, served former race-tracking and data firm Trakus, and covered international racing for a variety of publications. He has also operated his own consulting practice, Global...

As 2023 draws to a close, the TDN is asking industry members to name their favorite moment of the year. Send yours to suefinley@thetdn.com "The best moment from 2023 was the confirmation that the state of New York would be loaning NYRA nearly half a billion dollars to build a modern Belmont Park. I'd rate this occurrence as possibly the most positive development in the sport since the founding of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. The seeds of this were planted in the years before VLT revenue started flowing in New...

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission is investigating a spate of pool manipulation incidents which seem to have occurred on three races run at Prairie Meadows in the last eight race days, the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation (TIF) said in a release Friday morning. Daily double pools on Sept. 4 (Races 2/3), Sept. 1 (Races 6/7) and Aug. 25 (Races 5/6) were subject to massive bets on combinations the manipulator(s) expected to lose. In each case, the bets were made in the final betting cycle when projected payouts for each combination...

Courtesy Thoroughbred Idea Foundation Winning horseplayers at Churchill Downs and around the world betting into the pools across Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby days enjoyed more than an additional $1 million in winnings thanks to an amendment to Kentucky law which now rounds winning bets to the penny. The practice, known as breakage, has been in effect across all of American racing, relatively unchanged, for more than a century. But Kentucky's legislature passed an amendment to existing laws in March 2022. The measure took effect in July of last year,...

With 20 questions and a tiebreaker facing contest participants, entries are now open for the 2023 Thoroughbred Idea Foundation Derby Prop Contest, the organization said in a release Wednesday. The entry portal closes at 11:00 a.m. E.T. this Saturday, May 6. Players should keep track of their answers as you will not be able to revisit the survey portal once you submit your entry. Should a horse named directly in a prop be scratched, all answers to that prop may be counted as correct. Winners will be notified by email...

Courtesy Thoroughbred Idea Foundation Horseplayers at the 2022 Breeders' Cup enjoyed more than $545,000 in additional winnings from just the win, place and show pools thanks to the revised Kentucky law that pays pari-mutuel winnings down the penny. "The two days of racing at Keeneland were sensational, but it was made that extra bit better thanks to penny breakage increasing payouts to players," said Patrick Cummings, Executive Director of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation (TIF). In no race was the impact greater than the Breeders' Cup Classic won by Flightline. Under...

Through the conclusion of racing at Keeneland Sunday Oct. 15, more than $1.1 million has been returned to bettors since the introduction of penny breakage--rounding pari-mutuel winnings to the penny and not the dime--less than two months ago, according to a blog post from the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation (TIF). TIF was a vocal supporter and champion of the penny breakage provision, the first of its kind in North America as part of broader legislation designed to standardize pari-mutuel taxation. "The total is even higher than $1.1 million, that is just...

by the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation  In an unusual incident on Tuesday, Sept. 6, a horse reported to betting outlets as a scratch for 40 minutes prior to the start of a pick four sequence at Mountaineer Park was later unscratched after betting was closed and allowed to race. Remarkably, all pick four bets placed were paid to the actual results. "There are some similarities to the Modern Games (Ire) incident from last year's Breeders' Cup," said TIF Executive Director Patrick Cummings, "and it proves that wagering rules are in desperate...

by the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation The rule seems clear. What is also clear is that the rule, as written, was ignored on Thursday, July 21 at Saratoga, though by which party is unknown at present. "On behalf of aggrieved horseplayers who were impacted by the decision last Thursday, and all future players of multi-race bets in New York, we felt it necessary to seek clarification from the New York State Gaming Commission about the rules, why a seemingly arbitrary decision was made in the sequence and what customer expectations should...

By a vote of 33-1, the Kentucky State Senate has given their stamp of approval to Kentucky House Bill 607, which modernizes the taxation of pari-mutuel wagers and, in a major victory for horseplayers, eliminates the dime breakage than has been the standard for many years in favor of penny breakage. The change in the breakage will put more money into the pockets of horseplayers and is the first such measure to be introduced in the United States. The lone dissenting vote came from Republican Senator Whitney Westerfield. "For more...