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Racing’s Biggest Problem, and the Solution: Conrad Bandoroff

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In a new TDN series, we are asking industry participants what racing’s biggest problem is, and what the solution to that problem is.

   Today, we ask Denali Stud’s Conrad Bandoroff, “What do you think is racing’s biggest problem?”

I would identify one of the biggest problems in racing right now as the role of the regulatory vet. Especially, as it relates to race day scratches and the frustration that stems from that for owners and trainers. This is speaking from an unbiased third party, as someone who doesn’t have a lot of horses in training, but speaks to a lot of owners and trainers who feel that sound horses are getting scratched and they don’t have an answer for it. They don’t have a recourse for it.

We’re all proponents for safety, and that’s paramount, but I think we’ve gotten to a situation where, in some cases, the easiest thing to do is scratch a horse rather than give it the benefit of the doubt or accept that a trainer says “this is the horse’s normal gait” or “he loosens up when he gets onto the track.”

I think that for a lot of people, that’s the biggest pain point in racing right now. They have a horse, they’ve paid months of training, they built it up for this race, they have all this time and money invested to get it to this point. Then, it falls on the shoulders of one person to determine whether or not that horse is fit to go into the starting gate. And that’s an awful lot of burden for one person to bear.

What is the solution?

My proposed solution would be, in the event that a trainer disagrees with the decision that a regulatory vet makes regarding a scratch, there should be some recourse or a panel to go to, whether that’s an attending vet, or maybe a panel of three other vets that are unrelated to the trainer and the connections, and reassess that horse. Obviously, this would have to take place in the days, or day, leading up to the event; it would be much harder to do on race day. It couldn’t necessarily apply to race day scratches, because the appeal process would take too long. But there should be some recourse in trying to get down the rate of vet scratches in the races.

Recently, in Kentucky, the required time a horse must remain on the vet list after being vet-scratched was reduced from two weeks to one week. I think that all stems from the amount of frustration that is being harbored as a result of the current situation.

I think if this continues as it is, what is happening and what will continue to happen, is you’ll have owners exit the industry. They will get frustrated to the point that this source of entertainment will no longer be fun for them. You’ve heard some trainers express a level of frustration to the point that they’ve said that they’re going to accelerate their retirement. For example, Kenny McPeek has loudly voiced his frustrations over the current climate. The role of the trainer should be to focus on training and the health of their horses. They shouldn’t be having to consistently worry about getting scratched by the regulatory vet.

I’m not trying to paint the regulatory vet as the villain here. They’re just trying to do their job to ensure that racing is as safe as it can be, and that’s absolutely what everybody wants. We just need to make sure that it’s done in as fair a way as possible, so that horses aren’t needlessly being scratched, and that you aren’t driving people away from the sport due to rising frustrations.

If you were to look at world-class events like the Breeders’ Cup especially, I’d like to see these changes implemented, where you would see this appeal process in place and people would be working alongside the regulatory vets. You’d have world-class veterinarians being able to consult with the state regulatory vets and evaluate these horses, therefore enabling them to do a better job, because they would have access to renowned fellow veterinarians to collaborate with. It would only improve the sport and the ownership experience that goes with it, in turn improving the longevity of the sport. It would hopefully increase the number of starters in the gate, which would help to increase handle, and have similar knock-on effects. I think if done the right way, you would see an increase in important key metrics across the board, which will improve the health of the sport on a pretty significant scale.

Emma Hunter is a first-year trainee in the Godolphin Flying Start program. She is a native of Cork, Ireland. The first horse she ever foaled was Noble Yeats, winner of the 2022 Grand National, who was bred by her family.

The post Racing’s Biggest Problem, and the Solution: Conrad Bandoroff appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Letter to the Editor: We Can Handle the Truth (When it Comes to Racehorse Veterinary Records)!

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The recent reveal of racing past performances with information about treatments a horse received from a veterinarian has created quite a lot of kerfuffle (to put it mildly) in the industry. While many questions remain (including mine of whether anyone has truly confirmed this info as accurate or just an elaborately AI created document) unanswered, there is one that has repeatedly come up.

Why aren’t all vet records on racehorses available for anyone to view in a public database??

The answer to this question is kind of multifaceted, but making one small change would alleviate any legal hurdles.

What most people don’t know is that there really is no HIPPA equivalent in the veterinary care world. Problem solved right? If there is no HIPPA, then show me the records! Not so fast. Each state does have a Veterinary Practice Act that dictates how veterinary records are handled. Through specific regulations and rules governing ethical conduct of veterinarians, veterinary records cannot be released to anyone without the owner’s consent. The only exception to these rules is usually when an animal cruelty investigation is conducted or if the State Board is investigating a specific complaint against the vet.

This creates multiple issues in making records public. An owner would have to ensure they would be following the rules of each state Vet Board that the horse was racing in. In the case of partnerships, how does one handle it if one partner does not want the records released, but others do? What if an owner only wants certain information released? Finally, it is also important to remember that vet records are only as accurate as a vet makes them. We must be able to trust that the treatment the veterinarian puts on the record is the one that was actually given.

Another thing to consider is what database stores it and who would be paying for it? We are talking about massive amounts of data that would have to be stored. Also, how long would the records be required to be stored for. Most Veterinary Practice Acts require records on an animal to be held for three to five years and then they can be disposed of. Would the industry want the data held for decades if, say, breeders also wanted access to the info to make mating decisions?

When watching the Royal Ascot meeting last week on the GB1 feed, I was pleasantly surprised how many times I heard the commentator say a particular horse seemed to do much better after “getting an air/wind surgery.” This most likely implies the correction of an entrapped epiglottis, tie back, or soft palate surgery to allow the horse to breathe easier when racing. Why is it so hard for that information to be given about horses in the U.S.? Why is announcing a horse was gelded considered crucial information to be reported, but not a surgery that improves airflow?

This brings me to the easy solution. All that would be needed is minor change to all state racing commission owner license applications to state something to the effect, “by applying for and being granted this license as an owner, I hereby approve and or allow any veterinary records on any horse I own to be released for public inspection when requested.”

I know the immediate push back on something like this would include, “no one will understand what these medications are or what they do or why we did a surgery or not. They will just use it as something to further their agenda of claiming we are doping up all our horses.” I understand that concern, but it can be alleviated by having a simple education program with it that explains what these medications do and why they are used when they are.

I fail to understand why there is such resistance to this, and am genuinely curious to hear back from owners, trainers, vets, or anyone else who opposes the idea of the release of vet records as to why they would oppose it? Could a compromise be reached where only certain aspects of the records, such as major surgeries, are available for public knowledge?

This issue is not going to go away. Proper transparency of vet records (with the education for the public behind them) is needed to help bring back the integrity of the sport that everyone is clamoring for.

The post Letter to the Editor: We Can Handle the Truth (When it Comes to Racehorse Veterinary Records)! appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Racing’s Biggest Problem, and the Solution: Conrad Bandoroff

---

In a new TDN series, we are asking industry participants what racing’s biggest problem is, and what the solution to that problem is.

   Today, we ask Denali Stud’s Conrad Bandoroff, “What do you think is racing’s biggest problem?”

I would identify one of the biggest problems in racing right now as the role of the regulatory vet. Especially, as it relates to race day scratches and the frustration that stems from that for owners and trainers. This is speaking from an unbiased third party, as someone who doesn’t have a lot of horses in training, but speaks to a lot of owners and trainers who feel that sound horses are getting scratched and they don’t have an answer for it. They don’t have a recourse for it.

We’re all proponents for safety, and that’s paramount, but I think we’ve gotten to a situation where, in some cases, the easiest thing to do is scratch a horse rather than give it the benefit of the doubt or accept that a trainer says “this is the horse’s normal gait” or “he loosens up when he gets onto the track.”

I think that for a lot of people, that’s the biggest pain point in racing right now. They have a horse, they’ve paid months of training, they built it up for this race, they have all this time and money invested to get it to this point. Then, it falls on the shoulders of one person to determine whether or not that horse is fit to go into the starting gate. And that’s an awful lot of burden for one person to bear.

What is the solution?

My proposed solution would be, in the event that a trainer disagrees with the decision that a regulatory vet makes regarding a scratch, there should be some recourse or a panel to go to, whether that’s an attending vet, or maybe a panel of three other vets that are unrelated to the trainer and the connections, and reassess that horse. Obviously, this would have to take place in the days, or day, leading up to the event; it would be much harder to do on race day. It couldn’t necessarily apply to race day scratches, because the appeal process would take too long. But there should be some recourse in trying to get down the rate of vet scratches in the races.

Recently, in Kentucky, the required time a horse must remain on the vet list after being vet-scratched was reduced from two weeks to one week. I think that all stems from the amount of frustration that is being harbored as a result of the current situation.

I think if this continues as it is, what is happening and what will continue to happen, is you’ll have owners exit the industry. They will get frustrated to the point that this source of entertainment will no longer be fun for them. You’ve heard some trainers express a level of frustration to the point that they’ve said that they’re going to accelerate their retirement. For example, Kenny McPeek has loudly voiced his frustrations over the current climate. The role of the trainer should be to focus on training and the health of their horses. They shouldn’t be having to consistently worry about getting scratched by the regulatory vet.

I’m not trying to paint the regulatory vet as the villain here. They’re just trying to do their job to ensure that racing is as safe as it can be, and that’s absolutely what everybody wants. We just need to make sure that it’s done in as fair a way as possible, so that horses aren’t needlessly being scratched, and that you aren’t driving people away from the sport due to rising frustrations.

If you were to look at world-class events like the Breeders’ Cup especially, I’d like to see these changes implemented, where you would see this appeal process in place and people would be working alongside the regulatory vets. You’d have world-class veterinarians being able to consult with the state regulatory vets and evaluate these horses, therefore enabling them to do a better job, because they would have access to renowned fellow veterinarians to collaborate with. It would only improve the sport and the ownership experience that goes with it, in turn improving the longevity of the sport. It would hopefully increase the number of starters in the gate, which would help to increase handle, and have similar knock-on effects. I think if done the right way, you would see an increase in important key metrics across the board, which will improve the health of the sport on a pretty significant scale.

Emma Hunter is a first-year trainee in the Godolphin Flying Start program. She is a native of Cork, Ireland. The first horse she ever foaled was Noble Yeats, winner of the 2022 Grand National, who was bred by her family.

The post Racing’s Biggest Problem, and the Solution: Conrad Bandoroff appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Letter to the Editor: We Can Handle the Truth (When it Comes to Racehorse Veterinary Records)!

---

The recent reveal of racing past performances with information about treatments a horse received from a veterinarian has created quite a lot of kerfuffle (to put it mildly) in the industry. While many questions remain (including mine of whether anyone has truly confirmed this info as accurate or just an elaborately AI created document) unanswered, there is one that has repeatedly come up.

Why aren’t all vet records on racehorses available for anyone to view in a public database??

The answer to this question is kind of multifaceted, but making one small change would alleviate any legal hurdles.

What most people don’t know is that there really is no HIPPA equivalent in the veterinary care world. Problem solved right? If there is no HIPPA, then show me the records! Not so fast. Each state does have a Veterinary Practice Act that dictates how veterinary records are handled. Through specific regulations and rules governing ethical conduct of veterinarians, veterinary records cannot be released to anyone without the owner’s consent. The only exception to these rules is usually when an animal cruelty investigation is conducted or if the State Board is investigating a specific complaint against the vet.

This creates multiple issues in making records public. An owner would have to ensure they would be following the rules of each state Vet Board that the horse was racing in. In the case of partnerships, how does one handle it if one partner does not want the records released, but others do? What if an owner only wants certain information released? Finally, it is also important to remember that vet records are only as accurate as a vet makes them. We must be able to trust that the treatment the veterinarian puts on the record is the one that was actually given.

Another thing to consider is what database stores it and who would be paying for it? We are talking about massive amounts of data that would have to be stored. Also, how long would the records be required to be stored for. Most Veterinary Practice Acts require records on an animal to be held for three to five years and then they can be disposed of. Would the industry want the data held for decades if, say, breeders also wanted access to the info to make mating decisions?

When watching the Royal Ascot meeting last week on the GB1 feed, I was pleasantly surprised how many times I heard the commentator say a particular horse seemed to do much better after “getting an air/wind surgery.” This most likely implies the correction of an entrapped epiglottis, tie back, or soft palate surgery to allow the horse to breathe easier when racing. Why is it so hard for that information to be given about horses in the U.S.? Why is announcing a horse was gelded considered crucial information to be reported, but not a surgery that improves airflow?

This brings me to the easy solution. All that would be needed is minor change to all state racing commission owner license applications to state something to the effect, “by applying for and being granted this license as an owner, I hereby approve and or allow any veterinary records on any horse I own to be released for public inspection when requested.”

I know the immediate push back on something like this would include, “no one will understand what these medications are or what they do or why we did a surgery or not. They will just use it as something to further their agenda of claiming we are doping up all our horses.” I understand that concern, but it can be alleviated by having a simple education program with it that explains what these medications do and why they are used when they are.

I fail to understand why there is such resistance to this, and am genuinely curious to hear back from owners, trainers, vets, or anyone else who opposes the idea of the release of vet records as to why they would oppose it? Could a compromise be reached where only certain aspects of the records, such as major surgeries, are available for public knowledge?

This issue is not going to go away. Proper transparency of vet records (with the education for the public behind them) is needed to help bring back the integrity of the sport that everyone is clamoring for.

The post Letter to the Editor: We Can Handle the Truth (When it Comes to Racehorse Veterinary Records)! appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.