A giant leap forward

There is no shortage of people who are ready and willing to support former racehorses in retirement and no lack of purpose for animals fully capable of serving in roles other than racing. There are tireless, dedicated and underappreciated people who have toiled long and generally without reward in support of the moral responsibility that is certainly not a universal trait of those involved in the racing business. There are people who appreciate a horse for being a horse, who understand the bond that has existed between human and equine since before the first record of history. There is, however, always a lack of funds and land, the want of which too often places the animal in the crosshairs of peril.

It is rare that a good idea is hatched by the political asylum that passes for government in the great state of New York, but a positive omen nevertheless in light of an alarming vacuum of industry leadership in support of proposed federal legislation that would ban the slaughter of horses.

While the Jockey Club, National Thoroughbred Racing Association and other racing organizations have remained alarmingly and suspiciously silent on the slaughter issue, the New York State Task Force on Retired Racehorses, a panel created by the state legislature, last week recommended that a percentage of revenue from video lottery terminals and purse accounts go toward retraining and retirement programs for racehorses, both standardbred and thoroughbred.

Based on industry statistics, the task force estimates a 39 percent combined annual attrition rate of racehorses in New York and recommends that the state's racetracks and Resorts World Casino New York City at Aqueduct contribute .05 percent of casino commissions to retirement efforts. Based on 2010 commissions and projections at the Aqueduct casino, the percentage could produce more than $3.1 million a year, a report issued two days before Christmas said. The panel also recommended that racetracks and horsemen in the state contribute .05 percent of purses, which would generate another $1.1 million based on 2010 levels. Once properly appropriated, $4.2 million will provide homes and options other than brutal death to retired and repurposed racehorse even in the face of a hostile federal government.

"The task force has the opinion that New York's horse racing industry and its participants -- not the betting public or taxpayers -- must take primary responsibility for the after-care of retired racehorses," the report states. "Industry stakeholders, including owners, breeders, racetracks, and trainers must address the fiscal challenges of [ensuring] quality after-care for racehorses."

Toward that end the panel also suggests owners should be prepared to pay $400 a month for at least six months after a horse is retired to support transitional retraining, an entirely reasonable and presumably deductable levy.

Adoption of such a plan would reduce if not eliminate the not insignificant number of horses placed at risk by New York owners unwilling to support horses no longer able to compete and provide a blueprint for other states in which participants enjoy the revenue generated by alternative gaming at racetracks.

While recent federal legislation unopposed by the industry's no more than nominal leadership opens the door to a revival of horse slaughter in the United States, adoption of this program first in New York and eventually by other jurisdictions would in practice remove retired racehorses from the pipeline.

Generally, groups such as this one tend to depart quickly from reality but the waning days of 2011 have seen a welcome exception in New York. Even oversight of funding would be shared by those representing interested and hopefully responsible groups -- a 13-member advisory board with representatives from the New York Racing Association, Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack, harness racetracks all of which are supported by casinos, the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, the Finger Lakes Horsemen's Association, the Standardbred Owners Association of New York, the New York Thoroughbred Breeders, the Harness Horse Breeders of New York State, the Jockeys' Guild, a professional harness driver or trainer, and an equine veterinarian. The spectrum of racing and breeding stakeholders is represented, but there is also a place here for a representative if the various rescue groups active in the state.

There has been a flurry of recent claiming activity at Aqueduct and New York-bred horses are in unprecedented demand. The dawn of 2012 will see a new era of casino-fueled prosperity in New York, where the state's harness tracks and Finger Lakes, the one thoroughbred track not operated by the NYRA, have long enjoyed the beneficial financial result of alternative gaming. With the first sudden and substantial infusion of commissions generated by the casino at Aqueduct to purses, which will immediately be increased by almost 40 percent, and breeder and owner awards, which will grow by 50 percent in the new year, money to support retired horses should no longer be an issue.

It seems odd that support for a cause this important comes from politicians rather than the industry's leadership, whose silence on the slaughter issue in effect says a great deal. But adoption of this panel's recommendations, which would circumvent the coming revival of the American horse slaughter industry by the New York Legislature would put the state in the unfamiliar position of leading by example. States without alternative gaming at racetracks will almost certainly eventually embrace the concept rather than face the loss of substantial revenue producing racing and breeding businesses. If regulators and lawmakers in those states that benefit from the combination of casino and racetrack revenue embrace New York's proposed retirement practices, the thoroughbred and standardbred slaughter pipeline would be dry. We breed them to toil on our behalf, to chase our dreams. We owe that much to the horses.

Paul Moran is a two-time winner of the Media Eclipse Award, and has received various honors from the National Association of Newspaper Editors, Society of Silurians, Long Island Press Club and Long Island Veterinary Medical Association. He also has been given the Red Smith Award for his coverage of the Kentucky Derby. Paul can be contacted at pmoran1686@aol.com.

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