CHRB Meeting Summary

From CHRB
ARCADIA, Calif. (Oct. 23, 2015) — The California Horse Racing Board conducted its regular meeting Thursday, October 22, at Santa Anita Park. Chairman Chuck Winner presided. Vice Chairman Richard Rosenberg and Commissioners Madeline Auerbach, Steve Beneto, Jesse Choper, George Krikorian, and Alex Solis also were in attendance.
The audio of this entire Board meeting is available on the CHRB Website (www.chrb.ca.gov) under the Webcast link. In brief:
• The Board approved for 45-day public notice proposed amendments to regulations for medication violation penalties, including a provision prohibiting licensees suspended for more than 30 days from transferring horses to employees.
• The Board approved for 45-day public notice a proposed regulation requiring a postmortem examination review process to determine the circumstances of each equine fatality for education and research purposes.
• The Board heard a report from the Pari-Mutuel, ADW, and Simulcast Committee on the previous day’s discussion of the possible impact of Fantasy Sports and Fantasy Horse Racing on the horse racing industry.
• The Pari-Mutuel Committee also reported on its discussion of optimum takeout. Alan Balch, executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers, reported on his efforts to tap into the expertise of academic institutions to study various takeout scenarios and perhaps determine optimum pricing for the racing product.
• The Board appointed former jockey Darrel McHargue to the newly created position of Chief Steward, as announced in a separate news release.
• CHRB staff reported on the ongoing, comprehensive effort to test and evaluate all racing surfaces in California in order to establish operational and maintenance standards for minimizing the incidence of injuries.
• CHRB staff also reported progress in the Microchip Pilot Project, which is developing techniques for horse identification and tracking purposes, as a precursor to a possible regulation that would require all horses racing in California to be microchipped.
• The Board completed its approval of the 2016 racing calendar by allocating quarter horses dates to Los Alamitos Race Course from December 26, 2015, through December 18. 2016, and then approved the license application for the Los Alamitos Quarter Horse Racing Association to conduct a meet within those dates.
• The Board approved the license application for Watch and Wager LLC to conduct a harness meet at Cal Expo from December 26, 2015, through May 8, 2016.
• The Board approved a regulatory amendment adjusting the riding fee scale for losing mounts to reflect California’s minimum wage increase of 11.1 percent.
• The Board approved for 45-day public notice a proposed regulation requiring all licensees to wear a safety vest when mounted on a horse on a track.
• The Board authorized the Los Alamitos Quarter Horse Racing Association to distributed $28,143 in race day charity proceeds to five beneficiaries and another $12,358 to five beneficiaries.
• The Board authorized the Los Angeles Turf Club to distributed $190,756 in race day charity proceeds to 12 beneficiaries.
• The Board approved the nominations of Ken Smole, David Naftzger, Josh Rubinstein, Gerard Piccioni, and Robert Lennox to the Board of the California Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Foundation.