By Craig Bandoroff
Dear Santa,
As the clock ticks down on another year we can hopefully all agree that we have much to be grateful for. Racing in many ways seems to have recovered its footing from our headline fatality troubles and we just learned the fatality rate at HISA tracks continues to decline. Who can argue that we are not making progress and moving in the right and needed direction in making racing safer?
I do have two requests for you, Santa. First, I would love to learn from the NHBPA an answer to this question: what is it you really want in your fight over HISA? I'd love to believe it's all about the constitutionality of it all. It sounds good (to them, I guess) but let's be serious. Few if any of us are Rhodes Scholars or constitutional experts. We just have a very hard time believing this is what it's all about for you. So please tell us what is it you want from the rest of us when it comes to HISA? Because most of us just don't know.
Second, dear Santa, is please put the powers to be in a room and let them try to hammer out their differences. Stop the insanity. Do we really want to put our fate in the hands of the Supreme Court? Do we really want to turn the clock backwards and threaten our right to exist? I'm exaggerating, you say? If I want to take my grandchildren to the circus I'll have to go to Europe!.
Let's do it as a gift to the industry that they claim to so dearly love. If you can please deliver this gift under the horse racing industry tree, well then maybe there really is a Santa Claus!
Merry Christmas,
A concerned elderly elf,
Craig Bandoroff
P.S. Okay, so while I'm at it here is one more. Let's let everyone realize the importance of supporting aftercare. Our opponents really do care what happens to our horses. Thanks, Santa. Now get back to work!
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