Cal-bred News

MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
January 14, 2004

The meeting was called to order at 10:00am. The President, Dan Schiffer, conducted the meeting and announced that a quorum was present.

Minutes of the meeting of December 17, 2003 were approved, with one minor change.

President’s Report:

President Dan Schiffer opened the meeting by expressing sincere thanks for the outgoing directors (Weston Fitzpatrick and Dennis Meagher) who will discontinue their service as Directors at the next annual meeting.

General Manager’s Report:

Doug Burge, General Manager announced that the format of the annual meeting to be held on February 9, is a business meeting at 3:00 p.m., cocktails at 6:00 p.m., and dinner at 7:00 p.m. There will be videos for presentation of Cal-Breds in races conducted during 2003 in addition to the presentation of awards. ESPN’s Chris Lincoln will emcee the awards presentation. A visit by a few State legislators is also anticipated.

The count of the ballots of the annual election of directors has six candidates for six positions. A motion was unanimously passed to waive the presence of PricewaterhouseCoopers for the purpose of serving as a monitor of the election. Two directors, John Barr and Keith Card, will instead act as election supervisors for this election. Neither Mr. Barr nor Mr. Card are running for office in this election.

The matter of electing Trainer of the Year for recognition at the annual meeting was discussed, including a review of the winnings during the year of various trainers’ total winnings and winnings with Cal-Bred horses. John Sadler was elected with a majority vote.

Treasurer’s Report:

John Barr, Treasurer, noted that the estimate of financial results for 2003 distributed at the last meeting is still a good estimate. He announced that the budget for 2004 will be available at the March meeting; this will provide directors who are newly elected to participate in a review of the budget.

Sales Committee:

Doug Burge represented the Sales Committee in lieu of Mr. Vessels. Mr. Burge announced that an agreement with the Del Mar Race Track has been made and a press release that specifies the change in location had been previously circulated. The one day select sale will be held on Monday August 16.

The Sales Committee has changed the procedure for x-rays. The new procedure will be that a complete set of x-rays will be delivered to CTBA ten days prior to the sale. This will allow CTBA to ensure that all 34 views are present and are readable.

Considerable discussion took place regarding the current situation in Northern California, as it pertains to American Equine Sales. There are some concerns with the future of AES in Northern California and the CTBA Sales committee will again review the financial requirements associated with conducting such a sale.

Education Committee:

Leigh Ann Howard informed the board that the date of the Harris Ranch Seminar has been set at September 24 and 25. She also said that a theme had not yet been decided upon, but that “Marketing” appeared to be a likely subject.

Leigh Ann also led a discussion about CTBA presenting sales preparation seminars at Thoroughbred farms and that a spring time period would be far better than a summer or fall time period. The Committee will further review this matter.

A proposal was distributed about making videos for the Farm Elite Program. The board believed that this matter would best be approached by having CTBA staff gather information on the current existence of videos, which includes non-horse subjects such as hazardous substances and first aid and present this finding to the Education Committee. The Committee would then ascertain what topics were still needed on how to produce or gather these videos, how to establish a clearing site, and to identify other interested parties and funding.

Racing Committee:

John Barr informed the Board that the Cal-bred Stakes Schedule for 2004 has been printed and mailed and that extra copies were available at this meeting.

Mr. Burge reviewed the expected entries for the Sunshine Millions and there was good representation of Cal-Breds in all races. He also noted that promotion was operating smoothly and that the time between races will average between 17 to 20 minutes. CTBA will host a reception in its library the Friday night before the races for invited owners, breeders and trainers, as well as CTBA Directors.

Legislation Committee:

John Harris said that AB900 had passed and is on the Governors desk. This bill is expected to lower the cost of workers compensation. He also said that the subject of workers compensation would continue to be reviewed by the State Legislature.

Mr. Harris expected that new legislation for 2004 might include an expansion of the number of offsite betting facilities.

Magazine Committee:

Trudy McCaffery informed the Board that there were no new topics for the magazine.

Horse Welfare:

Leigh Ann Howard stated that the committee is in the process of reviewing data of where thoroughbred horses go when they leave the track at Santa Anita as well as reviewing live foal reports for foals of 2000.

Other:

Keith Card outlined a proposal to amend the By Laws of CTBA. Currently, Article II, Section 4 states that: Any Director who fails to attend a minimum of fifty percent (50%) or fails to attend three (3) consecutive of the regularly scheduled meetings called during the year may be requested to resign by a majority of the Directors. The proposal would be: Any Director who fails to attend a minimum of seventy percent (70%) or fails to attend three (3) consecutive of the regularly scheduled meetings, in person, called during the year may be requested to resign by a majority of the Directors. After some discussion, a motion was unanimously passed to adopt the proposed change.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 p.m.