2001 Cal-bred News Archives

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE
CTBA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
NOVEMBER 1, 2001, ARCADIA, CA

1. PRESIDENT’S REPORT: Cal Cup looks to be a great success-full fields, good giveaway, lots of ad coverage in Southern California. Officer is attracting attention in the Juvenile; Tiznow will be paraded for all to see.

2. GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT: Doug Burge and industry lobbyist Bob Fox attended a private reception with Governor Davis. The Governor spent about half an hour with them discussing our industry, and heard our message about the benefits of the agricultural side of the industry to our economy. Doug and Bob thanked him for the account wagering legislation. John Harris was co-host of an agricultural reception for the Governor a few days later, and reiterated our positions.

Sunshine Cup. Meeting the purse objectives of the Sunshine Cup would require a change in the rules for takeout. The concept is to increase the exotic wagering takeout by 1% to fund purses to include the Sunshine Cup. The Governor will not approve supporting legislation unless it provides for CHRB approval. The TOC plans to modify the legislation and reintroduce it with an urgency clause. We are hopeful that the bill will be signed by early next summer, allowing six months or so to market the event for 2003.

State Challenge. This event will be held sometime in late November or early December, as both tracks and horsemen’s organizations have expressed concerns with having the event the day prior to the Breeders Cup. These concerns include stabling issues as well as the requirement to card the six State Challenge races on that day. There will be six races with purses of $250,000 per race. The NTRA informs us that they will be allocating $150,000 toward purses in each race, with a total contribution of $900,000. The Breeders Cup will add $50,000 per race for horses which are Breeders Cup eligible, and each state bred fund will allocate $50,000 per race to be paid strictly to that state’s participant, with any unused sum to revert back to the state’s fund.

February Election: At this time, two candidates have expressed interest in seeking election through the petition process. The signed petitions shall be submitted to the CTBA offices no later than 90 days prior to the election.

Annual Meeting: The Annual CTBA Meeting will be held on Saturday, February 9, 2002. The business meeting will take place at the Radisson Hotel at the Berkeley Marina, and the awards luncheon will be at Golden Gate Fields. The Cal-Bred Tanforan Handicap will be held that day.

3. TREASURER’S REPORT. The financial statements for the first nine months of the year reveal a healthy surplus of revenue over expenses when compared to the annual budget. The bulk of the surplus is attributed to an increase in foal registrations.

4. SALES COMMITTEE. The Committee will be meeting shortly to plan the second annual industry-wide sales workshop. The Committee will consider the use of a facilitator, as it was thought to be an effective approach last year. The meeting will consider, among other topics, how to best help breeders market horses that aren’t accepted for Del Mar, whether to hold the sale on Sunday instead of Tuesday (to address the historical dropoff in buyer attendance on Tuesdays, a Del Mar dark day used by trainers for travel and relaxation), whether a sale should be associated with a fair meet, and how best to promote all sales that contain Cal-Breds.

5. RACING COMMITTEE. The Committee is planning to meet shortly with racing secretaries, TOC, and CTT regarding the establishment of the Cal-Bred stakes schedule for 2002, which must be submitted to the CHRB in November. Another item on the agenda will be the suggested elimination of the recently adopted $8,000 earnings condition in the Hollywood Park condition book and will encourage the total elimination of the heretofore $3,000 condition, as well. The Committee will also reintroduce the prospect of increasing the claiming prices at all levels so as to achieve more realistic sales levels, commensurate with the increase in purses and costs of doing business in the past decade.

6. CAL CUP COMMITTEE. The Committee is cautiously optimistic that this will be the best Cal Cup ever. Infield table sales are up, and there are full fields in every race except the sprint. There is a guaranteed $1,000,000 pick six. The entire card of racing will be broadcast nationwide by TVG and will be conducted live from Santa Anita on Cal Cup Saturday. TVG also plans to showcase California Thoroughbred activities with topical archive video on California horses and their connections. The giveaway this year is a high quality sweatshirt with an embroidered Cal Cup logo.

7. LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE. This Committee is proud of its efforts over the past year in bringing account wagering and sales tax reduction into effect. After this successful year, 2002 will probably require a defensive posture to protect against such concerns as new license fees. We will be supporting several California legislators as they move into the federal arena, specifically Dennis Cardoza and Mike Briggs, both good friends of our industry who can help carry our message to Congress. We are checking to see if we can use state PAC funds to support a federal candidate, or if it is necessary to establish a federal PAC, or work with the American Horse Council. Our contributions tend to be small-in the $1,000 range.

8. INTERNET COMMITTEE. The Committee is hopeful that next year articles and photos relating to Cal Cup can be put on the website earlier to stimulate enthusiasm for the event.

9. MAGAZINE COMMITTEE. The magazine is timely and continues to improve in quality. Editor Rudi Groothedde is doing a great job. The board thought it appropriate at this time to investigate other printers to see if quality, cost, and delivery can be improved still more.

10. EDUCATION COMMITTEE. Stallion tours are scheduled for November 17 in San Diego County and for December 8 for the Central Coast. Bill Nichols has written an article about the Northern California tour. Seminar topics being considered for the future include tax issues and husbandry topics. Scoop Vessels introduced the board to a program developed at Lone Star in Texas called "Groom Elite," a turnkey educational program for race track grooms. It is taught for ten weeks, one day per week for three hours. Topics include anatomy, nutrition, behavior, and veterinary topics. The program is taught by a cadre of veterinarians and includes a Spanish/English translator. Graduates receive an accreditation certificate that generally translates into higher wages. The cost of putting on the course is about $4,000. The board thought that this program was a great idea, and that it would properly be arranged under the auspices of the CTT. The Harris Farms seminar was on budget.! It was well received, and feed ack forms gave high marks.

11. MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE. The Committee believes that the CTBA should fund a field representative for 2002. This person would be a key contact for breeders, and would spend 40% of his/her time in the field, especially to urge attendance at CTBA events; 40% in outreach projects to increase membership; and 20% to develop farm and horse information for the magazine and the website, and help people find answers to questions. This job will require a very special individual with the right combination of knowledge, interpersonal skills, and energy. It is hoped that the tracks can be persuaded to provide all CTBA members with two passes for entry and parking. There is concern about the acceptability of this idea to the tracks, and they will be asked to react to the idea.

12. CALIFORNIA THOROUGHBRED FOUNDATION. The first Louis R. Rowan Fellowship was presented at Davis to a worthy graduate student. A Seabiscuit exhibit, including silks, hooves, and photos, will be set up at Cal Cup. The Seabiscuit trophies are on loan to Saratoga, which is planning to extend its very successful exhibit into a traveling exhibit to go around the country.