Safety Featured at AZ Commission Meeting

At a special Arizona Racing Commission Meeting Wednesday, Turf Paradise's equine safety record was once again a serious bone of contention, with commissioner Rory Goree calling the track's equine fatality numbers “deplorable.”

In her routine track safety report, Sue Gale, the Arizona Department of Gaming's chief veterinarian, explained that 22 horses have died at Turf Paradise since the start of the meet, on Nov. 5 of last year–nine racing-related fatalities, five during training, and eight due to illness.

The racing-related catastrophic injury rate works out to 2.8 fatalities per 1000 starts thus far this season at Turf Paradise. According to The Jockey Club, the national fatality rate for 2020 was 1.41 per 1000 starts.

Last year in Arizona–including both Turf Paradise and Arizona Downs–the fatality rate was 1.94 per 1000 starts, said Gale.

“Unfortunately, this month of January, we did have a week where there were four horse breakdowns within one week,” said Gale, who didn't provide any context on the possible reasons underpinning the fatalities other than to explain that such events are often multifactorial.

“We're waiting on the postmortems that we do on all racing fatalities and we will be having a racing safety committee meeting later this month to go over those reports and see if we can see any common factor that we can focus some attention on,” said Gale, who added that the safety meeting would likely occur after the next Arizona Racing Commission meeting Feb. 15.

Of the commissioners, Goree was by far the most critical of the situation. “We're still killing horses at a terrible rate out there, and I'm sick of it,” he said.

What's more, since the start of the latest Turf Paradise meet, there have been three equine ambulance failures, said Goree.

“One of them, a horse was picked up improperly. Another time, the second, the equine ambulance became inoperable and was unable to assist a horse on the track,” said Goree.

“The third time, an incident in the paddock in what was described as, quote, to me, 'a shit-show with the equine ambulance unable to get into the paddock until the 10th try and an incompetent track vet,'” said Goree.

“We keep killing horses like this, we're going to be out of business,” Goree said. “And I have to ask myself: How did we get to this point?”

One reason, said Goree, is insufficient funding to institute prior recommendations to tackle the state's rocky safety record, which goes back years.

Indeed, the high equine fatality rate during Turf Paradise's 2017-2018 season prompted the issuance of this commission report.

“What happened in 2017, our budget got whacked,” explained Goree. “Somebody went down to the legislature and lobbied to reduce RWA.”

The Regulatory Wagering Assessment (RWA) is a wagering tax used to fund the department.

“We got whacked by a million dollars. We were not able to implement bringing in another state vet. We were not able to implement bringing in another safety steward,” said Goree.

“And he we are, still with the same problems we had in 2017,” he added. “We're still killing horses at a terrible rate out there. And I'm disgusted about it, and I'm tired of it. We need to take action.”

Another key area of concern has been the condition and maintenance of Turf Paradise's training, racing and stabling facilities.

Indeed, an Arizona Department of Gaming inspection of Turf Paradise on Oct 20 last year–a little more than two weeks before the start of the current meet–found numerous human and equine health and safety failures, including a lack of necessary track maintenance equipment, and railings that needed to be fixed or replaced.

Some of the broken turf railing support arms “have sharp protruding points that would easily impale, severely injure or kill an equine or jockey if they were to fall on it,” the report states, before concluding with a list of eight key recommendations.

According to Rudy Casillas, the Department of Gaming's deputy director and racing division director, the agency continues to work with Turf Paradise to upgrade and purchase new equipment, the latter of which has recently included new tractors and a new roller to seal the track.

“We're monitoring with the track superintendent on a daily basis the track condition and whether it needs any soil and materials put into it,” said Casillas. “We have had Turf Paradise hire a consultant to come out, look the track over every couple of weeks and make recommendations.”

Casillas added that the department has inserted a provision into state and federal grant monies being issued to permitted tracks to fund the position of an additional veterinarian.

“That money would be held out to allow the department to hire a department veterinarian in addition to Dr. Gale, so that we can have 100% pre-race exams by certified veterinarians,” said Casillas.

A shortage of official veterinarians has been an ongoing issue in Arizona. Indeed, at the October commission meeting, Gale suggested putting a call out to practicing veterinarians in the area as an opportunity for them to “pick up some work.”

Nevertheless, Gale said Wednesday that Turf Paradise has recently hired a new track veterinarian, Alyssa Butler.

“She and I meet prior to the races to discuss which horses we consider might be of concern, and also after the races when she lets me know which horses have problems,” said Gale. “I think that communication has been key, and is going to maybe greatly improve, or would hope that it greatly improves, our outlook here for the remaining half of the Turf Paradise meet going forward.”

The current Turf Paradise meet is scheduled to end May 7.

Earlier on in the meeting, the latest attempt to return simulcasting signals from The Stronach Group (TSG)-owned racetracks into Arizona crumbled when the commission denied the company's Simulcast Horse Racing Import Signal contracts for Turf Paradise and Arizona Downs.

It has been roughly two years since Monarch–the TSG arm tasked with distributing the company's signal–sent its product into Arizona.

Representatives for Turf Paradise told the commission that the track supported their contract and that the loss of Monarch's signal had cost them millions in lost revenue.

Nevertheless, Kory Langhofer, counsel for Arizona Downs, argued that their contract provided an anti-competitive fee rate when compared to Turf Paradise, that it included an unlawful provision barring Arizona Downs from operating OTB sites within 60-miles of Turf Paradise, and that it unfairly prohibits Arizona Downs from unilaterally expanding its business.

“All three of these things together, we can't make it work,” said Langhofer.

In the end the commissioners agreed, denying the contracts on a 2-1 vote.

There also remains no confirmed race dates this year for Arizona's Rillito Race Track, which ordinarily runs a meet in February and March.

Casillas explained that there have been delays in the permit application process due to the track's questionable financial viability.

“We have discovered some financial concerns,” said Casillas. “We're working with them on a daily basis.”

Casillas added that Rillito projects approximately $120,000 a day in revenues from admission, parking and food and beverage sales.

According to Casillas, the department's own calculations show that it costs Rillito approximately $1.2 million to run the race-meet.

“Without the state and federal monies being contributed to them, they would be running a little shy to run the meet,” said Casillas. “I'm hoping that come the 15th everything is on track that we can proceed with having you review their financial state and determine whether or not you want to make an approval on their permit and race days.”