At its meeting last week, the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (MTHA) agreed to the outlines of a plan to implement the retirement portion of its “Purse Protection and Retirement Program.”
The program’s goals: to focus the funding on Maryland-based facilities serving Maryland horsemen and horses while ensuring high standards of accountability. And the result: a partnership with the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance.
The Purse Protection and Retirement Program, funded by horsemen through purse account deductions, has generated an estimated $30,000 for equine retirement, according to the MTHA.
According to MTHA Executive Secretary David Richardson, the group will provide half the funds generated in 2013 to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance for that group to disseminate to facilities which it has accredited in Maryland. The MTHA itself will disseminate the remaining 50 percent of funds; over time, Richardson said, if the program works as his organization hopes, the TAA will handle substantially all of the retirement funds.
“I want the selection process to be need-based, almost anonymously,” Richardson said.
Beginning with the Pimlico meet in April, most owners have seen a $10 deduction from their purse earnings, with $6 earmarked for equine retirement and $4 to the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Political Action Committee (PAC). To offset the deduction, the starter bonus — that amount paid to horses that finish worse than sixth and thus do not share in purse earnings — was increased by $10. The program is voluntary, and according to Richardson, only a handful of owners have opted out of participating.
[boxify cols_use =”5″ cols =”5″ position =”left” order =”none” box_spacing =”5″ padding =”5″ border_width =”2″ border_color =”blue” border_style =”solid” height =”60″]The TAA, funded initially by Breeders’ Cup, Ltd., The Jockey Club, and Keeneland Association, acts as both an accrediting body and a fundraising mechanism for aftercare facilities caring for post-career Thoroughbreds. “Our approach is, a little bit from a lot of people is going to help a lot of horses,” said TAA board member Mike Ziegler.
The goal of the accreditation process, he said, is “to do our best to make sure the horses are cared for in the proper manner.” At the same time, the accreditation acts as a “seal of approval” for donors, reassuring them that their money will be well spent, and for owners who can be confident their horses will find a soft landing.
Another benefit: because the TAA is a grant-making organization, involving them can help to leverage additional funds to support retirement. “By working with us, they’ll get more than they would have gotten otherwise,” agreed Ziegler.
According to Ziegler, because the accreditation process itself is relatively new, only one facility in Maryland has obtained accreditation.
That, said Richardson, is a big part of why the MTHA decided to retain half the available funds to allocate itself: the board wanted the money spent helping Maryland horses and Maryland farms.
Facilities seeking funds from either the TAA or the MTHA will, both organizations said, need to submit a formal proposal. Richardson also indicated that the MTHA was “in partnership with the [Maryland Jockey Club]” on the retirement program, though that could not be immediately confirmed by The Racing Biz.
Some horsemen initially were skeptical of the program, MTHA board member Chris Bricker noted. “Our biggest challenge has been that everyone feels the money is distributed fairly,” she said, an outcome she hopes involving the TAA will ensure.
“We want to look out for the horses that can no longer race and make sure they a home to go to,” she added.
The RetiredRacehorseTrainingProject (RTTP), based in Davidsonville, run by Steuart Pittman, is so well known in Maryland, and actually ran an event at Pimlico this spring for OTTB (OffTrackThoroughbreds), that I am flabbergasted that this organization was not chosen to receive Md funds. They do a fantastic job, but are continually in need of resources. The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance is national…don’t we want these funds to stay in Maryland to help Maryland horses? I understand the MJC is planning to hold another event with RTTP at Pimlico next summer…why wouldn’t the MD horsemen want to help them? As an owner, I am going to ask to opt out of the program at the track and donate my money instead to our local Md. retirement organization.
Thanks for checking in, Cynthia, but I think you misunderstand – no organization has been chosen to receive funds yet. The TAA is going to disseminate 1/2 the funds to accredited Maryland organizations, and the MTHA is going to disburse the other half to MD organizations that have not yet received TAA accreditation. If RRTP wants to participate, it will need to apply, same as everyone else – but no decisions as to which facilities actually receive the funds have been made.
I think if you ask SteuartPittman himself he will honestly tell you he is not a horse retirement program. He received sponsorship from the MJC and the Maryland horsemen for his October event.
My point is that these funds should not be restricted to purely retirement programs, but there should be flexibility in the distribution. When you funnel the money through another layer of bureaucracy like the TAA, you limit this flexibility. I suggest making more use of Md’s own Horse Industry Board in deciding the distribution of the available money, which possibly could be used for sponsorship, in appropriate situations..
Thanks for all the conversation on this, folks. I think everyone agrees that RRTP is a great group, Cynthia, as are a number of others in Maryland, such as TPR. The point of using TAA, as the article noted, is that TAA is the only national accrediting agency for aftercare programs. I think MHIB does great stuff, but I doubt they would claim any special expertise in this specific area.
TAA doesn’t list any MD accredited facilities on their site- http://www.thoroughbredaftercare.org/Default.asp?page=18
Do you know who the facility is? Also, not to sound unkind, but that is not a lot of money considering the number of horses who come off the track every year (or should). Is there plans to boost those funds by other means?
The problem with the deduction of $10 from the purse account is, $4 goes to the MTHA political action fund. These funds have routinely been used against the Breeders in Annapolis. Consequently, any breeder with some common sense would opt
out. Why have your own money used against you in regard to the legislature. The MTHA used $500000 to take 4% of the money legislated to the breeders several years ago.
I totally agree with Cynthia!! Donate money to the programs of your choice.
Ann, when you give money to the TAA, you are able to request where and to whom the money goes .
Right! And I suggest the James River chapter of Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, where rescued racehorses help inmates to have a productive life after release.
I have a lot of time in my stall to ponder these things, Ann. Don’t you find it interesting that one of Dale Capuano’s owners is Racing Commissioner Lou Ulmann whose son Ken just happens to be running for Lieutenant Governor. How nice that the VP of the MTHA now has access to PAC funds generated from slot proceeds that can be donated to the Brown-Ulmann campaign.
If I could undo the stall latch, Id trot myself down to Annapolis and become a political strategist- surely someone could make “hay” from this questionable diversion of state funds from purses to lobbying.
It does sound like a problem that the retirement funds and the PAC funds are tied. I am not a MD breeder (though I have a broodmare and hope to be one day) and I think that does sound like it would be a conflict of personal interest. In my personal opinion, I think that while RRTP is not a retirement organization in the sense we might be initially thinking about here, it would be a good organization to benefit from some of these funds. Many horses “retire” from the track at the ripe old age of 3 or 4. This is the time they would just be getting started in other disciplines. My understanding of RRTP is that they are trying to generate excitement and potential for these horses. To show that they are not retired throw-aways, but young horses with several potential careers ahead of them. Do we want to continue to beg people to take these “useless” horses off of our hands before they hit the slaughter house, or do we want to showcase these horses as what most are- which is unlimited potential? RRTP might not be the ‘standard’ retirement type of organization, but I think it needs to play a big part in the direction we go in the future.
“Generating excitement and potential” does nothing to provide for day to day care and transitioning of thoroughbreds. A program with a great track record that is designed to care, rehab (if necessary) and adopt these horses out with new careers I believe is more appropriate. I hope that people will open their eyes to options in the state that they may not know anything about. Investing in the horses futures is a common goal among all Md horsemen.After you do your due diligence when the TAA Acredidations come out I think all will be excited to learn there is a fabulous organization right here in Maryland.
What about several MD. organizations working together to provide retraining and placement for new careers? Include placement services, rescues, promotional networking via events, TB Only horse shows, events (dressage, showing jumping & cross country), paper chases, and hunter trials to really promote these horses? The TB Alliance Horse Show Series is a start to provide these horses with horse showing opportunities. (from green as grass and up and for jumpers) These types of programs provide JOBS for these horses..it is a win win for all.
I hope you are not implying that RRTP does not care for the horses! What you described is exactly what they do…they try to take horses from the track, rehab and retrain them so they can be sold into new careers.
The 24th Annual Select Stallion Season Auction run by the Thoroughbred Charities of America, in Lexington KY on Jan 4,2014, is honoring the Retired Racehorse Training Project (RTTP) [run by Steuart Pittman in Davidsonville] with the TCA Industry Service Award.
Why does Maryland have to look to an outside organization for “accreditation” of RTTP? Why not look to our own Md Horse Industry Board for help in distributing Md money to Md organizations. This would leave more flexibility in getting the funds where they can do the most good. For examole,RTTP is currently working on putting together a directory of all organizations so people interested in finding a home, selling or buying an OTTB can easily find out where to go. RTTP would greatly appreciate funds to help finance this project. Why do we have to add another layer of bureaucracy by getting an outside organization such as TAA involved, when our own Industry Board could fulfill the same function?
Cynthia, I agree with you- the Industry Board would be an excellent choice to distribute the funds. I bet they’d be able to organize on-site evaluations so that this small amount of money is used wisely.
If the MTHA had not blown over half a million by running extra days at Timonium that would have made a nice contribution to TB retirement!
MTHA Board members do not give a crap about retired TBs. There is still no formal program to transition racehorses from the backside to these retirement facilities. Who does the Maryland trainer call with an animal that needs placement- David Richardson:? Richard Hoffberger? Dale Capuano?
The advent of the Purse Protection and Retirement program coincided with 2 events- First the inability of the MTHA to generate PAC funds – so they copied the PA plan of taking money out of the purse account. Second- the Foxy G Foundation came into existence- certain past and present board members send their layups to the farm where this Foundation is located. When the horses are done racing- they drop them off at the same farm. Is it a conflict of interest when the Foxy G Foundation gets funds from the MTHA to take care of board member- owned/trained horses?
Owners should have been given the opportunity to opt into the Purse Protection and retirement program rather than having to opt out. I seriously doubt that all owners support the use of purse money for lobbying efforts.
I think everyone should know that the 4% the MTHA took from the MHB in their last very expensive foray in Annapolis, would have fully funded The Maryland Bred purse enhancement program, as well as the Breeders awards. The PAC fund of the MTHA is routinely used against MD Bred horses, whether you own them or breed them.
If the MTHA wanted to get along with everyone– why not separate the retirement fund and the PAC. No one disagrees with funding retirement (It might help to have a transparent business plan before taking peoples money) whether MTHA’s leadership will admit it or not, there are plenty of perfectly reasonable people, who totally disagree with their political views. Consequently, they have no intention of helping to fund them.
So from a deductive reasoning stand point -if they actually cared about their horses welfare in retirement, why would they jeopardize its success by marrying it to something as controversial as politics.