Alex Waldrop

The NTRA and its Washington, D.C., legislative team, The Alpine Group, and Kentucky-based Dean Dorton, one of the nation's leading experts on equine tax matters, will host a national teleconference to review Federal stimulus bills recently passed to combat the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The teleconference, which will be held Wednesday, April 1, at 11:30 a.m. ET., is open to media, representatives of equine businesses, their employees, and other individuals in the equine industry impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Among the topics to be covered is an in-depth analysis...

NTRA President Alex Waldrop was the first speaker on the NTRA's teleconference Tuesday, during which he spoke at length about the current coronavirus pandemic, recommendations on dealing with it and different steps being taken by the racing industry. The following are some of the highlights of that talk: "So much of this pandemic is local in nature. Central Kentucky has its own special circumstances. Some tracks may be in an area with less community spread. We ask everyone to stay in touch with your state and local health department and...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security communicated to Congressional offices its intent to release 35,000 additional H-2B visas for the summer season of Fiscal Year 2020. This non-immigrant visa program is used by many industries that need temporary non-agricultural help when domestic workers are unavailable. For the horse racing industry, racehorse trainers rely heavily on the H-2B program to fill various backside positions. While DHS has not yet released a final rule outlining specific details, the agency has provided the following: Federal regulators will release the supplementals in two phases....

Officials at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) announced that the 49th annual Eclipse Award Dinner and the night's highest honor, 2019 Horse of the Year, will be sponsored by Claiborne stallion Runhappy (Super Saver), the 2015 Eclipse Award-winning sprinter. "The Eclipse Awards are the most prestigious awards in North American Thoroughbred racing. I know because we won one for Champion Male Sprinter in 2015," said James McIngvale, who campaigned Runhappy to three Grade I victories, including the Breeders' Cup Sprint. "It was the culmination of an unforgettable year and...