Legal Landscape Shifting Around Bedrock Rules
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 >BUCKET LIST= SPARKS A DEFERRED DREAM LEGAL LANDSCAPE by T.D. Thornton SHIFTING AROUND For most people, crossing an item or two off a Abucket list@ is enough to yield an enormous amount of personal contentment. BEDROCK RULES Patricia Akiona goes about her goals a little bit differently. The effervescent 50-year-old law enforcement retiree--a new grandmother who cares for two ex-racehorses on a small farm in Snohomish, Wash.--belongs to that subset of uniquely driven bucket-listers whose achievements instead serve the purpose of sparking deeper involvement into lifetime aspirations. In May, Akiona finally checked off her bucket list a long-planned trip to attend the GI Kentucky Derby and a tour of a Bluegrass breeding farm. But she didn=t stop there. Cont. p6 (click here) IN TDN EUROPE TODAY INTERNATIONAL CAST IN PLACE FOR ORBY Horses schooling in the Keeneland paddock | Keeneland photo The yearling sales circuit moves to Ireland this week for the The Week in Review, by T.D. Thornton Goffs Orby sale Sept. 26 and 27, and an international crowd From a legal standpoint, these are interesting times in the was out inspecting horses on Monday. Thoroughbred industry, particularly if you lean toward the Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. Aquestion authority@ mindset. Racing=s Aabsolute insurer@ rule, which places the ultimate responsibility for anything having to do with the care of a Thoroughbred squarely on the shoulders of its licensed trainer, was declared unconstitutional last month by a circuit court judge in Kentucky because its rigidity deprives trainers who are accused of improper equine treatment of their due process rights. The decision is currently being appealed by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, and even though the ruling does not directly affect absolute insurer regulations in other states, the final outcome is being watched closely because that long-accepted trainer responsibility standard forms the basis for anti-doping and medication control rules in most United States jurisdictions. More challenges in other states could be in the pipeline. Next month, the United States Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case from New Jersey challenging the constitutionality of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 {PASPA), which is the backbone for the nationwide prohibition on sports betting in all but four grandfathered states (Nevada, Oregon, Montana and Delaware). Cont. p3 Tiznow – Unbridled Melody, by Unbridled’s Song WinStarFarm.com | (859) 873-1717 PRESIDENT & CO-PUBLISHER Barry Weisbord @barryweisbord [email protected] SR. V.P. & CO-PUBLISHER Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] V.P., INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] Tuesday, September 26, 2017 EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Associate Editors Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Ben Massam @BMassamTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistants Alexa Reisfield Star search. Team Coolmore (left to right) Clem Murphy, Paul Shanahan, Aidan Michelle Benson O’Brien with Timmy Hyde inspecting yearlings at Goffs Orby on Monday. | Amy Lynam Photo Editor/Dir. of Distribution Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] Social Media Strategist PAOLA QUEEN CONSIGNED TO KEENOV 9 Justina Severni Grade I winner Paola Queen (Flatter) has been consigned Director of Customer Service to this year’s Keeneland November sale on behalf of SF Bloodstock, Vicki Forbes joining Cathryn Sophia (Street Boss) and Her Emmynency [email protected] (Successful Appeal) as Grade I-winning SF offerings at the sale. Marketing Manager Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen Director of Information Technology IRAP HAS SUCCESSFUL SURGERY 9 Ray Villa Reddam Racing’s MGSW Irap (Tiznow), who suffered a fractured [email protected] sesamoid when finishing second in the GI Pennsylvania WORLDWIDE INFORMATION Derby Saturday, had successful surgery at the University of International Editor Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center Monday. 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 | 732-747-8955 (fax) www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 9 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 The Week in Review cont. The federal court=s specific directive not to enforce the jail rule A ruling on the PASPA case could be expected a few months (because it is an unfair restriction of interstate commerce) only later. But as a pre-emptive strike in case some sort of federal applies within Indiana, and trainers who wish to challenge action nullifies the near-nationwide ban on sports betting, this similar jail rules in other states should expect that they will have past Wednesday a Kentucky state senator filed a bill to establish to initiate their own lawsuits in order to do so, at which time a framework to allow sports wagering at any horse track or they could cite the Indiana federal ruling as a precedent to off-track wagering facility in the commonwealth. bolster their cases. Without such a regulatory framework in place, sports betting California could be the first jurisdiction where the jail rule first might become legal at the federal level anyway, depriving gets batted around like a legal pinata. Kentucky (and its racing industry) of a slice of the revenue In July, a proposed amendment to California Horse Racing stream while simultaneously providing daunting competition to Board (CHRB) rule 1663 to provide that a claimed horse in pari-mutuel horse betting. ineligible to race in any other state than California (except in a Also last Wednesday, a federal judge in Indiana struck down a stakes race) until 60 days after the close of the meeting was pushed off the agenda for further study by the CHRB=s version of the Thoroughbred industry=s long-standing Ajail@ rule Legislative, Legal and Regulations Committee before being that prohibits claimed horses from racing outside the state for potentially brought back before the full board for action. 60 days. As of this writing, no appeal has been filed by the At the time, that measure was presented as a defendant, the Indiana Horse Racing Commission. commission-level way to improve short fields by cutting down Theoretically, a federal precedent is now on the books striking on the number of horses being claimed in California that end up down the jail restrictions for claimed horses, meaning owners being transferred to other states where they are lured by should be free to race horses they purchase via claims whenever gaming-enhanced purses. Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and Santa and wherever they choose. But in practice, expect that few, if Anita Park currently have house rules that call for similar jail A @ any, state racing commission regulations or house rules at restrictions, but the CHRB does not have a direct say in racetracks will change as a result of this court order. enforcing those house rules. Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 9 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 The Week in Review cont. Sophomores jinxed? CHRB officials testified at that July meting that the legal The year=s final graded two-turn stakes for male 3-year-olds landscape might be ripe for instituting a commission-mandated were run over the weekend. If you were holding your breath for jail rule because, in their opinion, the either the GI Pennsylvania Derby at federal scope pertaining to interstate Parx or the GIII Oklahoma Derby at commerce had narrowed, thus Remington Park to produce a making a jail regulation better legally dominant, bust-out winner to carry defensible. the divisional flag as a serious threat But the Sep. 20 federal ruling out of against older rivals in the GI Breeders= Indiana seems to contrast sharply Cup Classic, you=d best exhale right with the above-stated CHRB now. reasoning. This is not so much a knock on The CHRB has an agenda item Pennsylvania Derby victor West Coast pertaining to discussion and action on (Flatter) as a frank assessment of the rule 1663 scheduled for its meeting lack of depth within the 3-year-old this Thursday. Yet the CHRB also male division as a whole. posted a notice on its website West Coast, after winning his fifth announcing that Wednesday=s consecutive race (and second straight Legislative, Legal and Regulations West Coast winning the Pennsylvania Derby | Equi-Photo Grade I route), appears to be peaking Committee has been canceled, and the claim-jail rule change at just the right time to factor in the Classic. But he has yet to had been agenda item No. 1 for that committee meeting. face a stern, deep-stretch, battle-searing test to get a true read Now it remains to be seen whether the claim-jail rule will on how he would stand up to the likes of Arrogate (Unbridled=s come up for a vote at all on Thursday, or if it will resurface in Song) and Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) over 10 furlongs. some different structure. Cont. p5 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 9 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 The Week in Review cont. three-eighths out but thereafter failed to rally when roused, and In the July 15 GIII Los Alamitos Derby, West Coast dropped far the horse who got clear run after a stalking, mid-pack trip in the back, gave up significant ground on both turns, and looped a Oklahoma Derby ended up being Untrapped (Trappe Shot), a subpar group of stakes horses at 2-5 odds.