Racing And The Hot Seat Switches to Los Alamitos

The tumultuous winter/spring meet at Santa Anita ended this past Sunday, but the racing action moves to Los Alamitos this Saturday and with it, the eagle eyes of the industry and those beyond.

“We're more concerned because of the spotlight that we have on us,” admitted Jack Liebau, vice president of the Los Alamitos Racing Association. “The spotlight is probably heightened by the fact that we have not banned Jerry Hollendorfer.”

Hall of Fame trainer Hollendorfer was told to remove his horses from Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields–two The Stronach Group (TSG)-owned facilities–after the Hollendorfer-trained American Currency (Exchange Rate) was fatally injured during training at Santa Anita Saturday morning. This was the fourth Hollendorfer-trained equine fatality during the meet. Los Alamitos accepted roughly 50 of his horses formerly stabled at Santa Anita, said Liebau.

Nevertheless, in light of the intense public scrutiny that Santa Anita faced as a result of a spike in equine fatalities, perhaps the apex issue facing Los Alamitos concerns safety protocols to reduce the risk of catastrophic injury during its short summer Thoroughbred meet that runs June 29 through July 14.

California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) fatality statistics don't offer an apples-to-apples comparison between Santa Anita and Los Alamitos because the Los Alamitos figures include Quarter Horse fatalities. Using what numbers are available, however, the average fatality rate on the dirt at Santa Anita over the past three fiscal years is 2.7 per 1000 starts. This figure is 2.5 for Los Alamitos. Jockey Club figures show the national average over the same period on dirt is 1.7.

Liebau pointed to a number of welfare measures the track already has or will institute, including some that have recently been adopted state-wide, like the restrictions concerning corticosteroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, as well as increased out-of-competition testing.

The five-person panel of veterinarians and stewards that began reviewing medical, training and race records of entered horses during the last two weeks of Santa Anita will continue its role at Los Alamitos, said Liebau.

The panel was put together earlier this month in response to California Governor Gavin Newsom's call for greater veterinary oversight of horses. The panel “reviews the entries and determines whether the track should accept the entry for that horse,” Liebau said.

Santa Anita increased the presence of regulatory veterinarians to watch morning training, and Liebau said that an extra veterinarian will “probably” be brought in during the morning at Los Alamitos to perform a similar role.

Santa Anita adopted another layer of scrutiny, requiring trainers to alert the racing office 48 hours before workouts, giving the track an opportunity to review the horse's record and conduct a physical examination, if necessary. When asked if Los Alamitos would mirror that program, Liebau said it's not up to the racetrack to “second-guess” the trainers.

“We are not requiring trainers to get permission to work horses because first, I'm not too sure that system works,” he said. “I guess I have a great deal of trust in our trainers, and as I said, I think our trainers and everybody concerned with horses have their best interest at heart.”

A large portion of horses running at Los Alamitos will ship in from Santa Anita. According to Santa Anita racing secretary, Steve Lym, the facility will continue with the same training safety protocols while Los Alamitos conducts its summer meet. This includes the 48-hour work request, and two extra veterinarians monitoring training of a morning.

“We still have heightened monitoring. The outriders are watching, the clockers are watching,” Lym added.

The track will close its doors to horses stabled at the facility on July 15, in anticipation of the Del Mar summer meet.

With Santa Anita recently restricted to three-day racing weeks as a result of a depleted horse inventory, another concern facing Los Alamitos executives is field size.

“I am concerned about our ability to fill races,” admitted Liebau, adding that the threat of small cards drove the decision to race Saturday and Sunday opening weekend, rather than the typical four-day race week.

“We were scheduled to open Thursday and Friday, and I decided that we would forego those two days,” he said. “I'm holding my breath that we'll be able to fill [races]. But when you have Santa Anita going three days a week and having some difficulties, there's trepidation, no question about that.”

According to Mike Marten, CHRB public information officer, the five-person panel overseeing entries at Los Alamitos will be comprised of safety steward Jon White, steward Grant Baker, regulatory veterinarian Tim Grande, CHRB equine medical director Rick Arthur, and chief steward Darrel McHargue.

Marten added that McHargue is unavailable for the first two days of racing, so a panel of four will review the entries opening weekend.

Arthur explained to the TDN how the panel operates, including the sorts of information available.

“We have a lot. We have examination records, we have vet's list history,” he said. “Any information that we have in our possession, we utilize.”

In some instances, the panel has contacted trainers for additional information. “Nobody's turned us down that we've called,” he added.

The panel, he said, is looking for “certain criteria” that might indicate potentially at-risk horses, including those making “suspicious” drops, and horses that miss workouts or have unusual work patterns.

“Different issues cause different concerns,” he added. For example, un-started maidens age four and older, as well as horses that have been off for over a year, are required to work for a regulatory veterinarian before they can race.

“We eliminated several of those horses from Santa Anita, but we didn't see any of them today,” said Arthur, about the first day of entries at Los Alamitos. “So, people are getting the word on those sorts of criteria.”

When asked if the panel will exert extra scrutiny on certain trainers, Arthur replied that different trainers have different work patterns.

“What we know about trainers and how they manage horses is a big part of what we do,” he added. “We know the horses. We know everybody. We even pay attention to jock' changes.”

The system works “by consensus,” said Arthur. “If any one person on the panel insists that a horse be removed or not be allowed to enter, that horse will not be allowed to enter,” he added.

What's more, “it's a pretty tedious task,” said Arthur, about the review process. It took the panel over three hours to scrutinize the entries for the first day of racing at Los Alamitos, he said.

“It takes a lot of work,” Arthur added. “Hopefully we'll be able to figure out a way to make it more streamlined.”

While safety concerns will understandably take precedence at Los Alamitos this weekend, hovering in the background is the issue of Hollendorfer, one of California's most prolific and successful trainers over many decades. At the top of the Los Alamitos day Thoroughbred racing homepage, the track's owner and chairman, Edward Allred, has left a statement saying that “We do not feel he should be a scapegoat for a problem which derives from a number of factors.”

“He hasn't been suspended by any regulatory authority,” said Liebau, further explaining the track's decision to offer Hollendorfer stalls, which includes factoring in the “totality” of his record.

“You don't fix a problem by banning a trainer,” Liebau added. “This is a slippery slope that you're on when a track for all practical purposes takes a person's livelihood away.”