Thanks to the horseman of Indiana, Penny and I got elected to the I.H.B.P.A board this year. Because of that, we attended the National H.B.P.A. Convention in Tucson, Arizona the weekend of December 5th. We sat through a number of meetings, some interesting, some boring and some had speakers that were clueless about racing.
I found it interesting that they would have the national convention in a town/resort that did not have HRTV or TVG so the horseman were not able to follow racing across the country. The track there is a small track that looked like to be 3/4 of a mile, and has a mixed quarter horse and thoroughbred meet that starts in Mid January and ending in March sometime. I think they run three days a week and it is a very small meet. They also have no simulcasting at the track. They do have a couple of simulcast facilities that are located in a sports bar type venue tucked away in a back corner. Two betting machines and one teller. Of course while we were there we had a horse that won and paid $23+ and couldn't get a bet down on it, nor could we see it on simulcast. (The filly Nautical Nonsense is owned by Fred Hall and was a first time starter.) The simulcast racing is mostly west coast tracks and they have limited hours of operation. I found it interesting that at the convention they talk about increasing fan base and betters, yet in a town of half to three quarters of a million in a state that has racing, it was almost impossible to find a place to watch and bet on a race. They could have started right there to improve fan base!
The National HBPA convention preceded the annual Race Track Symposium that was held at the same resort. It was a three or four day convention where the higher ups in the industry come; race track executives, racing commissioners, stewards, and all the "feel good" groups of racing (NTRA, RCI, Drug and Medication Consortium). The symposium is sponsored by the University of Arizona Race Track Program which is one of only a couple of schools to offer a major in race track management, business etc.. The symposium seemed to me more like a University of Arizona Race Track Program Alumni and golf outing.
The RCI did decide to go along with the Jockeys Guild and recommend that there be a raise in the jock mounts for losing mounts. Of course, none of them own any horses. They also agreed to another increase in three years, for cost of living.
These "feel good" organizations are like running the industry and I don't have a good feeling about it for the average person in the game. They don't have much invested in it, but feed themselves quite well off of it. I am sure some things got done there, but it looked like a lot of money being spent. Especially when you see tracks making cuts in racing dates and purses across the country.
The next HBPA Convention is in Minnesota in July to coincide with the Claiming Crown.
