You are about to enter another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone!
If Rod Serling (no relation to Andy I think) were still alive even he might not have come up with what’s happening at Calder Race Course. I’m sure you’ve read the story. Gulfstream Park and the Stronach Group had leased stall space at the old Calder Race Course, but that space became “unavailable” as of January 1. Churchill Downs Inc., the owner of Calder, has plans to redevelop that area of the track, displacing about 600 horses. With nowhere to go, the horses were set up in a tent in one of the parking lots. According to most of the bivouacked horsemen, the conditions are less than ideal and it seems a matter of time before some sort of accident makes new headlines.
Everybody is angry about the situation, except perhaps CDI, horseracing’s apparent version of the Empire. One trainer said,
“It’s over, and everyone seems to be admitting that it’s over. We don’t have anywhere to go, except maybe the temporary stalls Gulfstream is building on a parking lot here.”
Then he asked to not be identified because of concern about possible retribution from Calder and CDI. Can you imagine fearing retribution for making a simple statement about the situation at Calder? As someone once reminded me, even paranoids have enemies.
In CDI’s defense, everyone knew the agreement for the stalls expired on December 31. The displaced horsemen were told by Gulfstream Park that negotiations with CDI were moving along and that it they would be able to stay longer. In fact, Gulfstream told the Florida HBPA that they had assurance the stalls would be available through spring. This was reinforced by the fact that CDI apparently had signed no contracts for the redevelopment of the backstretch area, although CDI hasn’t confirmed this. So while CDI is technically and legally in the right, there is still a sense that the December 31 deadline unnecessarily punishes a lot of small horsemen, not to mention 600 animals. Perhaps CDI is just firing another salvo in their long-time skirmish with Stronach, but I believe it is intolerable to be a party to what may amount to abuse of horses, and that for me is puts me on the opposite side from CDI in this dispute.
I know the first thing that went through my head. If these were children, there would be a lot of time-outs in their future. These problems are hardly unresolvable. Gulfstream Park seems to be willing to spend money to find space and build stalls somewhere else, so if CDI isn’t going to start construction until spring, there is no reason why the existing stalls at Calder can’t be used by these horsemen for another few months.
The Florida HBPA has talked about fighting back by simply squatting on the property, relying on the fact that no one wants to figure out how to move 600 horses to nowhere else, and by denying the simulcast signal to CDI tracks and their ADW, Twin Spires. Unfortunately such a move punishes the Florida Horsemen as much as CDI. It’s as petulant as CDI’s move and makes the horsemen no better than CDI.
There are three groups with a lot of unexercised leverage: the owners, the trainers and the bettors. Owners and trainers are in a precarious position. If they boycott NYRA, CDI or Stronach tracks, they run the risk of losing their livelihood, not to mention incurring whatever wrath those tracks might have. Besides, getting trainers to act as one entity has rarely worked. If you remember when Buddy Jacobson organized backstretch workers and got them to go on strike for nine days, he won the battle, but found out his reward was being on the outside looking in for five years.
Bettors are even less likely to have an impact unless a great majority of them all move in lock-step. A boycott (related to raising the take) against CDI has been tried, and while there has been a measurable impact, it has not been enough to change their behavior. I’m not sure we won that battle, much less the war.
The fact is that until owners like the Ramsey’s, the Papiese’s (Midwest Thoroughbreds), the Winchell’s and others work in concert with trainers like Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher, Chad Brown, Jerry Hollendorfer, Steve Asmussen, Mark Casse and others, NYRA, CDI and Stronach will hardly feel obligated to listen. When bettors stop acting as solo entities they have the opportunity to impact the decisions of the big track owners.
Picking on the small horsemen that weren’t big enough or powerful enough to get space at Gulfstream hardly makes a ripple with racing’s 1%. While politicians often talk about “small business” being the backbone of the economy, the fact is that the only entities with power are the large or the organized. When it comes to racing, the large do well but there are hardly enough of the organized. Small owners and trainers are easily pushed around by the tracks. Small bettors are being squashed by excessive takeout and the whales. The sport, as I have mentioned before, doesn’t need to wait for the anti-horseracing groups to kill it. We’re doing a fine job of that without their help.
There is an old proverb that the longest journey begins with one step. I believe the time has come for each of us to take a step. For my part, I will not bet any CDI track, including the Kentucky Derby, or use Twin Spires until they start remembering the little guys are as much responsible for their success as the 1%. There are horses at Calder that need protection. Don’t let a petty squabble put them in jeopardy.