The Perfect Kick in the Pants

By Amanda Simmons

My mother always taught me to “sleep on it” before making some big decision. Never allow emotions to guide your decision-making process, she would say. Over the years, I’ve done my best to follow her guidance. Admittedly, never a shrinking violet, I haven’t always done that, but I’ve done my best and her advice has served me well. 

Yet, notwithstanding the past few days of “sleeping on it” and digesting the PETA video, the distortions, investigating the allegations against Steve Asmussen, and reading myriad industry reactions, I find myself still wrestling with a range of emotions which are no doubt shared by others. I don’t want to be governed by a lack of emotion right now. I don’t think any of us should be because it’s that lack of emotion that has led us to this point. 

Someone once said that the worst of all human qualities is indifference and that anger is not only inevitable, but sometimes necessary. If anything, we should all be really impassioned, angry, frustrated, ticked off, determined, focused, and overwhelmingly protective of our industry right now. We should be mortified, embarrassed, and so motivated that we immediately effectuate substantive changes through all legal, commercial and social means to shun those people in our industry who give our beloved sport a bad name. For goodness sake, we have had enough time to chew the cud. If you aren’t going to help or all you want to do is talk some more and take “baby steps,” then at least do the honorable thing and get out of the way. 

We should be gravely concerned about the vulgarity and callousness witnessed in that video. We should be angry at those in the sport who do anything to win at all costs, including Hall of Fame trainers and the owners who support them. We should be angry at the misrepresentations PETA has made, misrepresentations which intentionally hide the infinitely greater number of kind deeds and superb love and attention most racehorses receive daily. We should be angry at our leadership (racetrack owners, alphabet groups, Jockey Club, Breeders’ Cup, etc.) which acts so conservatively (or indifferently) that little gets done to excise the cancers that exist. We should all be angry at ourselves for remaining quiet, doing nothing, and collectively turning a blind eye for so many years. 

If “skin in the game” is measured by how much money one has spent breeding, racing, buying and selling horses, then I certainly would not have the same level of skin in the game as those who have spent millions. If skin in the game is measured by cuts, bruises, broken bones, early mornings, long exhausting days, and countless hours spent grooming and caring for horses at the tracks or farms, I also wouldn’t come close to the investment made by the thousands of hardworking grooms, riders, trainers, hotwalkers, and farm staff who are the very backbone of the sport. Most of us are somewhere in the invisible middle. Nonetheless, I’ve invested 32 of my 40 years being whole-heartedly invested in the Thoroughbred business as a fan, racetrack and farm employee, handicapper, bloodstock consultant, author, breeder/owner, and counselor to some of racing’s most prestigious operations. And in those 32 years, I have fallen deeply in love with the sport’s beauty, majesty, its characters, diversity, perpetual hope, and, of course, the Thoroughbred. 

But, admittedly, I am tired that the sport I love so much has made itself a target AGAIN of animal rights’ extremists. PETA does not have nearly the wealth or societal acceptance that horse racing has, but yet it manages to usurp all the attention. How embarrassing that we are, once again, on the defensive and that PETA is controlling the topic of conversation. Where is our offense? 

I have had enough. I applaud every word of Barry Weisbord’s comments in Sunday’s Thoroughbred Daily News and I stand with him. I reiterate the comments made by Bill Casner in the same medium. In whatever way I can, I will help support those voices and leaders in our sport who are determined and committed to seeing change made for the long-term welfare of the sport. 

Now is not a time for complacency. Indifference is but a slow death. It is time for all the wealthy owners and breeders out there to stand up and call in a few political favors to see that new laws are passed and enforcement occurs. To whom great blessings have been bestowed, much is expected. It’s time for the foot soldiers to become whistleblowers. If you see inhumane treatment occurring or conduct that violates the rules of racing, do something. Call law enforcement, the stewards, regulatory agencies, etc. It’s time for regulatory bodies to police their racetracks and do the undercover work that PETA claimed it was doing. Punish all violators irrespective of how many trophies they have won. And when I say punish, I don’t mean a slap on the wrist. Put some real teeth behind the punishment. It’s time for racetracks and the Jockey Club to get serious about banning those who have repeated histories of violating the rules of racing or who engage in conduct that is otherwise detrimental to the integrity of the game or welfare of the horse. 

It’s also time to celebrate all the good stuff out there and to be really vocal about it. As an example, Rosie Napravnik has shown leadership by starting and/or promoting a Twitter feed called #FullStoryPETA that shares photographs of the love exchanged between people and their racehorses. She and others like her are trying to take control of the conversation in a positive light. Write to your congressmen. Write to the alphabet groups. Write to the Breeders’ Cup. Donate to the welfare and charitable organizations. Demand change. In whatever way each of us can help, we must act. Whatever emotions you may be feeling, use them to do good for the sport. 

In six months from now, I’d like for all of us to be able to say that real changes have been made because the PETA video was the perfect kick in the pants that we all needed. 

Amanda Simmons is a Thoroughbred owner and breeder, and is a partner with Shutts & Bowen, LLP in Florida.