General Yarn

Another strange quirk in the programming in Southland, Wyndham and Winton Cups rating 55 to rating 90, why not all in, going to be off at least  40m so why a restriction, these are cup races, imagine having a rating93 trained in Southland, seems a bit odd to me.

On May 22, the HISA Board of Directors will take a vote that could result in the ban of Lasix in all races. Any decision made by the Board, whether to keep the rules as they are, or to enact a full ban, must be unanimous. In response, five trainers and Eric Hamelback, the CEO of the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, signed a letter imploring HISA to continue to allow the use of the medication in most races. Trainer Ron Moquett was among those signing the letter. To talk about what is a divisive issue for the industry and his personal feelings that there should not be a full ban of Lasix, Moquett appeared on this week's edition of the TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. He was the Gainesway Guest of the Week. Moquett said that the use of Lasix is something that is beneficial to the horse and something that, if taken away, would leave trainers without a valuable tool. “I think the definition of a horseman is to do right by your horse and to take every possibility to minimize the risk of anything bad happening,” he said. “Every day, every morning, the horsemen that I know, they make sure that all the snaps are closed on the gates. They make sure that the nails are pushed in the stall so that there's no shot that a horse would scratch it. We're constantly trying to minimize the risk of anything bad happening to a horse. That's our whole job. Training Horses 101–take care of your horse, do everything in your power to minimize the risk of something bad happening. Lasix falls into that category. I'm not out here asking for race-day medications such as pain-maskers, performance-enhancers, or steroids or any of that business. I'm asking for some people to use common sense. There's been a smear campaign on Lasix. You see people calling it doping. You see people calling it performance-enhancing. It's not any of that. It's just something we can use to help with the problem of horses bleeding.” Under current HISA rules, horses are not permitted to use Lasix in two-year-old races or in stakes races. Moquett said he had no problem keeping those regulations in place. “The current model that we have, everybody has basically agreed that it's fine,” he said. “I like the fact that 2-year-olds don't have it. I'm okay with the fact that graded stakes horses don't have it. But with the day-to-day horses that are competing, it's a safety tool that ought to be used.”   It was pointed out to Moquett that when HISA banned Lasix in the stakes and juvenile races there was an outcry, with many people casting a dire picture that included horses bleeding frequently and openly in races. Most people agree that never happened. When asked why the situation would be any different if there were a full ban, this was his reply: “First and foremost, I would say that just because you haven't seen (horses bleed) in those races doesn't necessarily mean it hasn't happened. It's the same reason I put on a seatbelt. That's to be careful and take the necessary precautions. I don't want my horse to ever experience bleeding. I don't. This is something that can minimize the risk of something bad happening to a horse.” He was also asked why European racing, as well as racing in most of the rest of the world, seems to do fine without the use of Lasix. “I always like to steer away from comparisons,” he said. “But things are different here. First off, at Churchill Downs and at Oaklawn, there are no green pastures. There are no trees. We lovingly call Churchill 'Riker's Island' because it's just concrete pavement everywhere. That's not the case in Europe. We have long meets. They don't. It's just not the same. There's more turf racing there, where you just gallop around and sprint home for the most part. It's not like here, where there is more dirt racing and speed is the name of the game. It's always laughable to me whenever they compare racing here versus racing in Europe.” The “Fastest Horse of the Week” was Knightsbridge (Nyquist), who got a 112 Beyer figure in his romp in the GIII Gulfstream Park Mile. The Fastest Horse of the Week segment is sponsored by WinStar, which stands the sire Heartland. Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the PHBA, 1/ST TV, and West Point Thoroughbreds, Randy Moss, Bill Finley, and Zoe Cadman took a look back at last week's preps for the GI Kentucky Derby. Though he finished second, the team was very high on the performance of Chief Wallabee (Constitution) in the GII Fountain of Youth and predicted he will only get better. The trio delved into the story of Hawthorne declaring bankruptcy, and what it means for the future of racing in Chicago. The podcast wrapped up with a preview of this Saturday's two Derby preps, the GIII Tampa Bay Derby and the GII San Felipe Stakes. To watch the video version of the podcast, click here. To listen to the audio, click here. The post To Discuss Potential Ban Of Lasix, Moquett Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Presented By Keeneland appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

It is a fix duty (type of tax).  The point I was making was the TAB never paid company tax on its profits.  Compare that with Sky City Casino which pays a minimum of 18% GST and gaming duty BEFORE tax on company profits.

How ridiculous of course it was a tax.  Duty is a tax like a car is a vehicle.

As part of his official duties, Keeneland's Director of Sales Operations Dean Rothemeier was attending the races Saturday at Meydan in Dubai at the same time that drone and missile attacks launched by Iran were hitting nearby. While he said he never felt unsafe, he noted that his biggest worry was, with the Dubai International Airport having been shuttered, how he was going to make it back home? But after a long, complicated journey, he had made it to Amsterdam on Tuesday and was expecting to land at the Cincinnati airport Wednesday evening, four days after he was nearly trapped in Dubai. “When I get home, I probably won't know what end is up,” Rothemeier said by phone Tuesday from Amsterdam. “I'm just happy to be that much closer to home.” He said that attending the Emirates Super Saturday card was an experience he will never forget. “It was pretty surreal,” he said. “I've been to a few Super Saturdays at Meydan and the crowd is always big and very lively. This crowd was as big as I've ever seen it and the racing was great.  But everyone was asking 'What is going on?' We heard big bangs and booms and saw the drones and missiles being intercepted. Despite all that, it was pretty much business as usual. When Sheikh Mohammed showed up at the races, that gave everyone a lot more confidence that everything was going to be OK.” “Yes, it got to be a little nerve-wracking. I would have felt safe remaining in Dubai. But there were no flights going out. It was more of a logistical challenge.” Rothemeier was scheduled to attend the races at Jebel Ali Racecourse in the Jebel Ali District of Dubai on Sunday, the day after the main attacks. Keeneland is a major, long-standing sponsor at that track. But racing was canceled there because of the war, which meant that Rothemeier could head home…if only there were a way to get there. He helped gather a group that also included Keeneland colleague Ed Prosser, Arqana's Ludovic Cornuel and bloodstock agent Alessandro Marconi. The group made a connection with Mohammed Al-Saadi, a horse owner based in Oman. It was Al-Saadi who arranged the “great escape.” “After racing was canceled at Jebel Ali, the airport in Dubai was still closed,” Rothemeier said. “Our best option was to get to Muscat in Oman. The owner from Oman managed to get us a ride across the border. He sent a car to pick us up and get us to the airport. He was so gracious. He even had us over to his house.” With Muscat International Airport operating, the group was able to move on. They went separate ways, some going to Munich, others to Paris, all with the same goal in mind, to get on a flight to take them home. “Right now, everybody is back in Europe, so it all worked out,” Rothemeier said. “Everyone at Keeneland, including Tony Lacy and Shannon Arvin, was very supportive and they all worked to find options to get us out of there. We all got very familiar with every flight-booking website there is.” Though Rothemeier's journey was a long and arduous one, it could have been worse. The original plan was to return through Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. A day earlier, two drones struck the embassy compound there. As of Tuesday, the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh was not fully shut down, but was experiencing massive disruptions. The post It Wasn’t Easy, But Keeneland’s Rothemeier Is On His Way Back To Kentucky appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article