TDN P HEADLINE NEWS • 10/6/12 • PAGE 23 of 23 • thoroughbreddailynews.com
Technology in much of the industry is seriously
Letters to the Editor cont.
dated, other participants noted. Some of the largest
entities in racing, including the Japan Racing
I have been training for over thirty years and feel that
Association, the HKJC and Australia's Tabcorp, rely on
if we do not clean our own house and do it in a hurry,
betting systems developed 15 to 30 years ago, said
we are going to lose more of our precious horses and
Christophe Leray, PMU's chief information officer.
fans. I think that the biggest issue that we al face is
There is no market standard in terms of software, he
the drug problem with racing and the biggest drug issue
concerns the use of lasix. The lasix issue is a very
While there were no breakthrough advancements
complicated issue and even though people claim to
announced at the forum, two totalizator companies
know the truth, no one real y knows. I took a couple of
operating in North America revealed some new
horses off of lasix this summer to try and find out
where I stand and to feel confident that they would not
Keith Johnson, vice president of marketing/technical
bleed, I also did not give them any of the pre-race
sales for AmTote International, said that company has
meds, bute, banamine, azium ect. I feel that the pre-
finished testing with PMU and is readying to provide
race meds set a horse up to bleed. I had surgery this
France's jackpot wager, Quinte Plus, to its customers.
past year and the doctor real y stressed not to take any
AmTote plans to fol ow with Sweden's jackpot V75 bet
nsaids within a week of the surgery due to the risk of
bleeding. We al ow our horses to get the NSAIDS 24
Meanwhile, Sportech has signed a strategic
out from the race and then scratch our heads and
agreement with Longitude LLC to develop sports
wonder why they bleed!! The two horses that I did this
betting in single pools. Longitude, with servers in New
with, Herculon and Mad Dancer, did not bleed. It is a
York, is relying on patented calculations developed by
trade off, as both horses did have minor problems that
financial traders that can assemble al bet types in a
the pre-race meds might have helped and you have to
single pool and calculate odds for each type.
wonder if the 20 to 30 pounds that the horses lose
Ian Hogg, chief executive of Sportech in the United
because of the lasix would make a big diffrence. The
Kingdom and online, said the company considered
sad part is that on the days that they ran, they were
working with Longitude on horse racing, but
the only horses for the whole day that ran without
determined there were too many organizations to deal
lasix. In hindsight and thinking it through, I feel that
with in the sport to make it likely to succeed.
Herculon would have run better with the pre-race meds
"We'l go live with single pools and see if it works,"
and lasix and Mad Dancer was better off without it.
Hogg said. "It fits with our ideas of innovation."
Both horses recovered from the races much better than
Sportech also has signed a strategic relationship with
they did when they got the lasix, so I felt very good
about that and could bring them back on a quick return
if needed. My honest opinion is that only about 25% of
the horses would bleed if they were not given any of
the pre-race meds and if the pre-race meds are in play
then 75% wil bleed. My opinion as wel as al the other
trainers, owners, vets and gamblers means nothing
without proof so I came up with an idea that I feel wil
resolve the issue and let us know the direction we need
to take within three months. The idea is to have 10
As Rob Whiteley's commentary (click here) explained
racetracks across the country have 2 races per day that
in depth, since 2007, the chal enges which commercial
are drug free or limit the drugs. These races wil either
breeders face have steadily expanded to the point that
have a bonus for the trainers or simply enhance the
it is rapidly becoming a "rich man's' game.@ Salvaging a
purses so we get the maximum parcipitation. Have 2yo,
break even position year after year via a breakout sale
3yo, 4yo and up, fil ies and colts, long and short. Have
on 15% of production is not a viable business plan, it's
races where pre-race meds are al owed but no lasix,
have races where nothing is al owed at al . After each
race, every horse in the race is scoped by a Racing
Commision Vet and have the records very wel
documented. In three months we wil have a 10,000-
12,000 horse research project that wil let us know
exactly where we stand and let us know for sure what
needs to be done. We wil not be counting on some
smal study that was done in South Africa years ago. I
know that this wil be a very expensive experiment but
My name is Glenn Thompson and I am a trainer and
feel that it is the most important thing we can do and
the author of the book "The Tradition of Cheating in the
hope that the racing community can pitch in and get it
FATE DECISIONS DURING NEURAL CREST ONTOGENY Chaya Kalcheim Department of Medical Neurobiology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hadassah The dorsal neural tube first generates neural crest cells that exit the neural primordium following an epithelial-to-mesenchymal conversion to become sympathetic ganglia, Schwann cells, dorsal root sensory ganglia and melanocytes of the skin
PUBLIC WORKS – ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES COMMITTEE County Administration Building, Mount Vernon Office Mayor Eddy, Councillors Maertens, Cooper, Peirce, VanSickle and McMillan (4:30 p.m.) Compeau, Hager, Davidson, Sharp and Schell Waste Management / Landfill Liaison Advisory Committee Members Dale and Morrison Water Advisory Committee Members Comisky and Croome; Waste Management / Landfill Lia