Labor Reform in Washington: Could It Help Racing?
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FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021 LABOR REFORM IN TAKING STOCK: MACLEAN'S MUSIC IS THE MODEL FOR VALIANT MINISTER WASHINGTON: COULD by Sid Fernando Last week, I stopped by John and Leslie Malone's 2,200-acre IT HELP RACING? Bridlewood Farm in Ocala before attending the OBS June sale and got a good look at an intriguing freshman sire who'd topped the June sale six years earlier at a then-record price of $680,000. By Candy Ride (Arg) from the unraced Deputy Minister mare Spooky Minister, Valiant Minister was bred by John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale and had breezed a bullet eighth in :9 4/5 for consignor Eddie Woods. He was purchased on the advice of Donato Lanni by Charles and Susan Chu, who race as Baoma Corp., with Bob Baffert, and he's an eyeful. Standing about 17 hands, Valiant Minister is an imposing horse with plenty of athleticism to go with his size and substance. Cont. p5 IN TDN EUROPE TODAY SUBJECTIVIST DOMINATES THE GOLD CUP Subjectivist (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) upset Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G1 Gold Cup on Thursday. The latter, a Sarah Andrew three-time winner of the race, was fourth. Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. by Dan Ross For many trainers around the country, their biggest practical worry from day to day isn't the patchwork quilt of medication rules and regulations, or the fear that one trainer has an unfair competitive edge over another, but whether they've enough grooms, hotwalkers and riders populating their barns to properly tend to the horses in their care. With fewer and fewer North Americans siphoning into horse racing, the sport has turned for relief, of course, with growing reliance on Central and South America--what has proven an increasingly tenuous stable of talent the more calcified the topic of immigration has become politically. "It's always been tough," said trainer Dale Romans, about the hiring of immigrant workers. "The whole system is messed up no matter what administration is in. It just needs to be changed and fixed." After many years of political atrophy surrounding the issue, however, there are a number of bills either floating around Capitol Hill already, or else waiting in the wings, which offer the promise of long-needed assistance to the industry, an integral component of which appears to be a sweeping piece of legislation called the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Senior Contributing Editor Friday, June 18, 2021 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Deputy Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Associate Editors Christina Bossinakis @CBossTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN News and Features Editor In Memoriam: Ben Massam (1988-2019) ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Project Manager Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] Frankel (GB) has enjoyed a stellar season so far including his first G1 Cazoo Epsom Social Media Strategist Derby winner in Adayar (Ire). Alayna Cullen chats to Juddmonte's Shane Horan about Justina Severni the mighty stallion. | Bronwen Healy photo Associate Producer Katie Ritz PURSE HIKE FOR INDIANA 7 Director of Customer Service Indiana Grand Racing & Casino has announced purse increases for Vicki Forbes [email protected] both Thoroughbred & Quarter Horse racing, effective July 6. Marketing Manager Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen TODAY’S GRADED STAKES Chief Financial Officer ET Race Click for TV Ray Villa 9:30a Albany S.-G3, ASC -------------- TVG/NBCSN [email protected] 10:05a King Edward VII S.-G2, ASC -------------- TVG/NBCSN [email protected] 10:40a Commonwealth Cup-G1, ASC -------------- TVG/NBCSN WORLDWIDE INFORMATION 11:20a Coronation S.-G1, ASC -------------- TVG/NBCSN International Editor Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 8 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • JUNE 18, 2021 Labor Reform cont. from p1 The act passed the house earlier this year, and farmworker groups met Wednesday with a bipartisan group of senators, along with agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack, to discuss introducing a senate version of the bill. "There's all of a sudden multiple buckets," said Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA), of these various pieces of legislation. "All of them, to some extent, are positive for our industry and the overall guest workers program." Returning Worker Exemption Arguably the most commonly requested visa for backstretch workers is the H2-B, awarded to seasonal "non-agricultural" workers like those in landscaping, hospitality sectors, seafood Dale Romans | Fasig-Tipton and in some construction jobs. Romans calls the re-enactment of the returning worker The number of H-2Bs is capped at 66,000 annually, with an exemption something that would make it "much easier" for him even split of 33,000 available for each half of the federal to hold onto valuable employees. government's fiscal year. And while additional visas are "Think about running a business where you have to have frequently made available, they're not always enough to meet 60 employees at all times, and you never know for sure if you're demand. going to get classified or get the visas," he said. "How can you Just look at this February, when the fiscal year 2021 H-2B cap consistently operate your business like that?" of 33,000 slots was easily reached. The Department of Labor According to Hamelback, of all the pieces of legislation swirling (DOL) reported receiving applications for nearly 100,000 around Washington, this bill potentially has the most political separate workers. traction. To help release a bit of steam from the system, congress has "This is something we've always advocated for," Hamelback periodically enacted a returning worker provision, which permits said. "And this has been the first time, at least since I've been in those who had previously been in the U.S. on an H-2B my current role, there's been a strong champion for that." visa-granted during a particular period-to be exempt from that cap. The last time this program went into effect-towards the end of Agricultural Worker Classification Dec. 2015-the returning worker exemption permitted those who One of the biggest obstacles to securing, and then holding had previously held an H-2B visa issued between Oct. 2012 and onto, immigrant labor in horse racing surrounds the way Sept. 2015 to be cap-exempt for fiscal year 2016. backstretch grooms, hotwalkers and exercise riders are not That exemption expired at the end of 2016 and has not been legally classified as agricultural workers. re-enacted since. This means they are not eligible to apply for H-2A visas, geared On Tuesday, however, a bipartisan group of senators towards field workers and general farm laborers, among others. introduced the H2-B Returning Worker Exception Act of 2021 Why is that important? For one, there's no cap on the number designed to develop a long-term solution to permanently of H-2A visas issued annually. address the annual H-2B visa cap. According to various sources, there's a potential bill being As currently written, the bill does a number of things, including drafted that, if introduced and passed, would redefine the remit amending the definition of "returning worker" to include anyone of the agricultural worker to include laborers related to the who has entered the U.S. on an H-2B visa in any one of the 3 breeding, care and feeding of horses. previous years. According to these sources, the bill could be attached as an The bill also seeks to streamline the application process, amendment to the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, a requiring the DOL to maintain a public online job registry. It sweeping piece of legislation that would provide undocumented would also implement new integrity measures and anti-fraud farmworkers and their family members with a path towards provisions. legal citizenship, and impose mandatory employment verification ("E-verify") in agriculture, among a host of other TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 8 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • JUNE 18, 2021 And so, has the advent of a new administration brought about any meaningful change to the immigration environment? Attorneys and trainers send different messages. "The difference is huge," said Will Velie, an Oklahoma-based immigration attorney with many clients in the racing industry. The stringent immigration policies of the Donald Trump administration saw pretty much any illegal immigrant apprehended by law enforcement vulnerable to deportation proceedings, no matter their criminal background, said Velie. But the new administration, he said, has reinstituted a prior policy, whereby illegal immigrants who come into contact with law enforcement are priorities for deportation only if they fit the following five categories of criminal history: Felons, gun possession, drugs, gang membership or domestic violence. This change has had a knock-on effect for racing, said Velie, Coady explaining how it has loosened the pressure valve on changes. backstretch communities. "Just like that, the temperature Any move to reclassify equine laborers as agricultural workers, dropped." Hamelback said, needs to be done in such a way that Due to a COVID-related backlog in biometric appointments--a backstretch workers are eligible for both H-2A and H-2B visas.