MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
March 10, 2004

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

Minutes of the meeting of January 14, 2004 were approved.

President’s Report
President Dan Schiffer welcomed new directors who were attending their first meeting, Rosemary Neeb and Bill Nichols.

Mr. Schiffer then conducted the annual election of officers. All positions had one nominee and all were elected by unanimous voice vote. The officers are President – Dan Schiffer; Vice-President (First) – Keith Card; Vice-President (Second) - Scoop Vessels; Treasurer –Pat Hurley; Secretary – Trudy McCaffrey.

General Manager’s Report:
Doug Burge, General Manager, announced that the annual meeting held last month in Sacramento was well attended and that the attending members were considerably involved in the discussion of industry matters that came up during the meeting. Mr. Burge noted that holding an annual meeting at a non-racing venue was quite successful, especially with the presentation of awards.

The incentive awards, which will be mailed later this month, are estimated to be 16.79% for breeder awards and 14.98 for stallion awards. These percentages compare to last year of 15.95 and 13.94 respectively, and are either at or near a record percentage.


A discussion was then held about holding an auction of yearlings in Northern California. CTBA personnel have visited a few locations and believe the Fairgrounds in Pleasanton is well suited for our needs. Fairground personnel are enthused to provide their premises for our auction. The estimated date would be one day, Tuesday September 28, 2004. the Fairgrounds have considerable space for movement of horses, a covered sales ring, and 200 stalls. CTBA would need a minimum of 150 entries at $300 and a minimum commission of $500 to meet the budget distributed at both the annual meeting and this meeting, Entries would have to be received by May 28, which would allow for owners to plan for the future of their horses if we cannot hold the sale due to too few entries or if the number entered exceeds the stall space. Black Type in the catalog would follow stakes rules. Proposals were made to Barretts to expand their sale in September as a sales venue for these horses or to co-host this sale and, at the time of the discussions, they declined to get involved. The Directors discussed these matters and unanimously approved a motion for the Association of proceed to with the sale.

Treasurer’s Report:
John Barr, Treasurer, presented the budget for 2004. After some discussion, a motion was unanimously passed to approve the budget with one minor change to the compensation section.

The Financial Statements for January were also presented, which disclosed that the result for the month approximately equaled the budget.

Education Committee:
Leigh Ann Howard announced that the matter of providing safety videos was still in process and that the insurance company, AIG, was being contacted to ascertain videos that could be provided to both thoroughbred farms and the Farm Elite Program.

The Seminar at Harris Ranch to be held on September 24, has obtained Cott Campbell as the Friday dinner speaker. Speakers for the program were still under review, such as on the subject of marketing (yearlings, stallions, and farms), and farm advertising as a separate subject. Another speaker would help individuals to target a market and help them to identify their niche in the industry and how to focus their involvement. Several directors made suggestions.

Legislation:
John Harris informed the board that a workers compensation bill specifically beneficial to horsemen was expected to be passed by this coming May and that a broader workers compensation bill, which would also be beneficial to the thoroughbred industry, is expected to be passed at a later date.

A racing specific issue that is moving through the legislative process is a bill that would affect satellite-wagering facilities. One issue would be to create more such facilities so that they would be easily accessible to a greater portion of the general population and the other would be to allow these facilities to be open on Monday and Tuesday, traditionally dark days at race tracks.

He also mentioned that both sides to the anticipated November ballot initiative about slot machines appear to be gearing up for that election but noted that CTBA was only an indirect participant in this process.

Racing:
John Barr informed the Board that a meeting had been held with the Racing Secretary from Hollywood Park and the TOC over the issue of tracks scheduling more maiden allowance races at the expense of restricted Cal-bred races. The purpose of the meeting was to explore the issue rather than make a decision at that time and more discussion is anticipated. There is the belief that racing secretaries in general are not well informed of the status of horses kept on the backstretch and there was additional discussion of CTBA providing a person for this type of liaison purpose.


Membership:
Pat Hurley stated that total membership is ahead of last year and that the increase in the membership fee, not only had few complaints but a few members has expressed the view that the increase was probably not high enough. He expects CTBA to write personal letter to those members that did not renew for 2004.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:10: p.m.

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