WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?

QUALITY ROAD: The news of Quality Road’s foot problem and withdrawal from the 135th Kentucky Derby is profoundly disappointing. Disappointing to everyone involved from owner, trainer, exercise rider and groom in New York down to everyone at Spring Hill Farm down in Casanova. My guess is even the dogs that hang out in the Spring Hill office were bummed out.

Yes, it’s horse racing and these things happen, but everyone involved had such high hopes for the horse, the farm and for Virginia’s industry. We’re working hard to build a brand around “100% VA-BRED$” and who would be a better poster boy than a Derby winner?

It’s been 16 long years since a Virginia-bred won the roses on the first Saturday in May and 13 such years since a Virginia-bred even started in the KY Derby. That’s a bit depressing. While the Commonwealth is third in wins (four) behind Florida (six) and Kentucky (101) that fifth win would have been sweet. But, you can’t win if you don’t play, and certainly can’t win if you can't train and you can’t run.

Kudos to Jerkens, Evans and the whole Spring Hill team for doing what is right by the horse. He’s an awfully talented horse, but he's big and his feet are reportedly relatively small. Hopefully, it won’t be an ongoing issue, and he won’t lose too much time which might allow his connections to consider the Preakness.

Last Friday, I asked farm manager Chris Baker if Quality Road had ever had any similar problems with quarter cracks or other hoof issues prior to now. Chris said, “No, but he’s never run this fast before.” It was a perfect answer, and if you know Chris you can practically hear him saying it…

Aside from the general disappointment and state pride, we had an interesting and, to date, quite successful public relations campaign cranked up for QR. His Facebook and Twitter careers were going quite well, and we were working with the Governor’s office on a good luck wish for Friday.

Torrey Pocock of the agency Torrey, Charles and Willner coordinated the “Quality Road Fan” pages on both Facebook and Twitter. The Facebook page had over 300 fans within the first week. Hot on Quality Road’s heels were the fans of I Want Revenge as he too had a Facebook page just three days after Quality Road’s broke from the gate.

The Facebook and Twitter pages were fun and hopefully they cultivated some new fans for horse racing. We posted some news there before the major news outlets had it and some fans posted their photos of Quality Road as well. It was nice to scoop the big boys a few times.

In addition, the VTA was awarded a grant from the Virginia Horse Industry Board to promote Quality Road. We hired Bendure PR in Middleburg to help us get the word out about Virginia and the effort was paying off prior to today’s bad news. Virginia was really getting a great deal of media coverage as people were reminded of Secretariat and the other Derby winners from here in Commonwealth.

Bendure PR also represents the Washington International Horse Show, the Washington Mystics women’s professional basketball team and the Virginia Gold Cup steeplechase among others.

Now we have to figure out a new way to spin the story as we look to further promote Virginia Thoroughbreds.

VIRGINIA BREEDERS FUND: Back in December, the Virginia H.B.P.A. made a promise to repay the Breeders Fund $200,000 of the $1.1 million the Fund spent on the 100% Owners Bonus Program at Colonial Downs in 2008. It took awhile to sort it out and we finally got approval from the Virginia Racing Commission for the 2009 program at Colonial Downs and the check (pictured here) was not far behind.

To my extreme disappointment, Colonial Downs delivered a speech at the VRC meeting claiming that this money was being spent unfairly and that is should be in the purse account. In addition, they accused both the VTA and VHBPA of acting surreptitiously in making this arrangement.

Needless to say this didn’t sit particularly well with any of the other parties. I pointed out to Colonial that the Breeders Fund has contributed over $7 million over the years to owners bonuses earned at Colonial and purses for Virginia-bred races and stakes. All of that money makes up the purse structure that is an important part of the simulcast wagers placed in other states on Colonial’s races. I then pointed out that the Breeders Fund has never been compensated for that contribution. Only the racetrack and the purse account share in the revenue from such signal sales. So after putting up $1.1 million last year, I was surprised they would be so narrow minded.

It was also pointed out that the VRC and Colonial Downs were notified of the VHBPA’s intentions in writing back in December. I felt compelled to point out that if Colonial Downs CEO Ian Stewart was unaware of this arrangement then it could be because he doesn’t read my emails. As he most certainly never responds to them, it would seem logical that we would strike a deal with the other stakeholder who does communicate with us on a regular basis.

Finally, this was disappointing because Colonial was pointing to the VTA and the Breeders Fund and insinuating, quite obviously, that we were part of their financial hardship. The term “death by a thousand cuts” was used. It’s disappointing because I believe the record would show that the VTA and the Breeders Fund have been rock solid political allies to Colonial Downs and pretty good customers over the years as well.

A quick review of our books shows that since the track has opened, as mentioned earlier, the Breeders Fund has contributed over $7 million to purses and awards distributed at Colonial Downs. In addition, the VTA has spent over $108,000 on various items including hospitality for the Virginia Derby and our annual awards luncheon held on Colonial Turf Cup day. I’m also reminded of the time we brought a sponsorship from one of our members directly to Colonial Downs. That was cash in their pocket, but when we look to compensate our stakeholders who have contributed millions, they complain…

It wasn’t my favorite moment in the history of Virginia racing…

All of that aside, we sent the Dave Lermond at the VRC the VHBPA check for $200,000 and a list of year-end Breeder Award and Stallion Award winners posted below. It will take a while for the state to process the info and send you a check.

As you may know, we have set aside $400,000 for 2009 year-end awards so we can prevent this situation from happening again.

Alcalde, Hector 455.93; Atkins, Danny Mark 584.28, Audley Farm 16,077.71, Aylor Jr., Dr. & Mrs. G.R. 272.84, Blue Ridge Farm 269.25, Bonnie, Cynthia 294.38, Bradshaw, Norine & James511.58, Braeburn Farm Corp. 2,631.49, Burning Daylight Farms 224.38, Bybee, Dennis L.502.60, Calhoun, Lisa & Gordon 409.26, Carter, Gary W. 960.33, Carter, James S. 1,256.51, Chance Farm 8,576.58, Clayton, Kathryn M. 376.95, Concepts Unlimited 443.37, Coppola, Albert P. 2,066.06, Corbin, Terry Allen 197.45, Country Life Farm 1,540.12, Cox, Nellie M. 545.68, Daybreak Stables, Inc. 111.29, Digregorio, Chris 579.79, Dresden Farm 682.11, Eagle Point Farm 545.68, Easter, Debbie 251.30, Eldon Farm Equine 718.01, English, Sam E. II 233.35, Evans, Edward P. 44,028.98, Everett, Wilbur 1,004.22, Firestone, Mr. & Mrs. Bertram R. 9,249.71, Flowers, Marjorie & Kinney, Deborah M.838.27, Foxcroft Farm 420.93, Gordon-Moore, Gillian 2,901.64, Grimsley, Charles136.42

Hackman, James M. 1,059.06, Hammond, Joanne & Grayson, George 562.74, Hardin, Mrs. Mark 933.41, Harris, Richard P. Jr. 269.25, Harris, Valerie 319.81, Hayes, Donna 13,824.89, Horseshoe Hill Realty, LLC. 356.00, Hutchison, Mrs. Emily 170.53, Iselin, Mr. & Mrs. C. Oliver 7,324.56, Johnson, Karl B., Sr. 437.98, Johnson, R. Larry 10,396.02, Keswick Stables 437.98, Kushner, Dr. Herbert 759.00, Lady Olivia at North Cliff, LLC. 2,353.86, Lamphier, Mary C. 215.40, Lazy Lane Farms, Inc. 5,401.50, Lerman, Mr. Roy 129.24, Manning, Diane L. 520.55, Marsh, Hazel B. 3,122.43, McDade, Rosemary Burns & Lawrence G.937.90, Mede Cahaba Stable & Stud 2,805.62, Mellon, Paul, Estate of 102.32, Miles, Clyde L. Jr. 502.60, Mills, Melinda 484.65, Moore, Carlos S. E. & Gillian Gordon-Moore 402.08, Morgan's Ford Farm, LLC 5,693.79, Morven Stud, Ltd. 1,068.03, Myer, Eric J. 534.91.

Narvick International 668.41, Nicewonder, Carolyn L. 2,030.16, Noffsinger, Dr. Glenn R. 757.50, North Wales, LLC 251.30, Nuesch, Felix J. 434.39, Overfelt, Heidi 545.68, Overfelt, Michael 648.16, Paisley, Ms. Eugenia D. 2,521.10, Pallister, Kevin 359.00, Powell, Robert K. 136.42, Reynolds, David P. 324.0, Richards, Althea 1,308.57, Ridley, Kristie & Ridley, Lynn 204.63, Ritzenberg, Grace E. 269.25, Robinson, Dr. & Mrs. Ralph 89.75, Rogers, Dr. & Mrs. Samuel H. 242.33, Rozell, Erika Keller 920.84, Run Aweigh Stable 272.84, Russell, Dr. Andrea 886.74, Schelford Farm 718.01, Schultz, Saul B. 298.46, Shapiro, Hilde R. 154.37, Slade, Mary 443.37, Smith, Alfred H. Jr. 2,046.32, Smith, Hamilton 272.84, Southgate 2,008.74, Southworth, Carlton M. 1,518.88, Steele, Kent D. Jr. 357.21, The Horseshoe, LTD. 161.55, Thompson, Earl & Louise 443.37, Tucker, Anne N. 723.39, Tucker, Anne N. & Debbie Easter 723.39, Vermont Horses, LLC 1,658.59, Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc. 8,528.62, Whitbred, H. T. 170.53, White, Alix L. 409.26, Willis, Michael L. 718.01, Willwerth, Sandra 434.09, Windward Farm 502.60, Yadkin Farm 3,812.08 and Yeckley, Sally Ann & Gerald B. 296.18.