from the USTA Communications Department

Las Vegas, NV — The USTA staff’s rollout of the online foal registration program highlighted the Registration Committee meeting of the USTA Board of Directors annual meeting Monday (Feb. 27) at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino.

T.C. Lane, USTA director of registry and member services, told the board that since its launch on Dec. 6, 2016, 286 foals from the 2016 crop were registered online from an estimated 500 foals yet to be registered from the total foal crop.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

T.C. Lane, USTA director of registry and member services, addressed the members of the Registration Committee on Monday.

Lane also showed breeders how the program will allow them to enter their List of Mares Bred (LOMB) reports online, which then digitizes the mating certificates. This feature saves breeding farms from having to wait for the paper mating certificate from the USTA, which they would then send to the mare owner, which the mare owner would then send back to the USTA.

Lane also presented the new Owners Dashboard within USTA Online Services, which provides a free program page for each horse owned by that user as soon as they become available. The dashboard will also provide personalized in-to-go reports, entries and results.

While online registration and mating certificates are operational, Lane said the next staff initiative to benefit the industry will be an online sales portal. This portal will allow horse sales companies to manage registrations and capture pedigree page information all in one place.

“This ties back into our Online Services bundle,” said Lane after the meeting. “Everything that we are trying to provide for the membership — whether it is Online Entry, which was a successful program; to Online Registration, which has been fairly successful so far; or the online sales portal, which will allow for every person who purchases a horse, at any sale, the ability to transfer the horse at that time pending payment. This will expedite the ability for horsemen to be able to race that horse. It will allow for the sales company to be much more efficient, and allow for our office to be more efficient, as well. It serves all masters within the industry.”

In Lane’s Registrar’s Report, he showed the committee that the overall number of mares bred in North America was up more than 700 from 2015 to 2016, mainly due to a rebound in mares bred in Canada. Lane said the number of U.S. mares bred remained flat, which is actually a positive trend compared to previous years.

There are currently 16,604 members of the USTA, a drop of 252 compared to 2015. Previous Registrar’s Reports showed a membership decline of 420 from 2014-2015, 778 from 2013-2014, and 847 from 2012-2013. Leading states for USTA members are Ohio with 2,950, New York with 2,432, Pennsylvania with 1,572, New Jersey with 1,273, and Indiana with 1,244.

Ellen Harvey of Harness Racing Communications reported that the USTA Full Circle program now has 7,293 horses enrolled as of Feb. 1, more than the number enrolled in similar programs at The Jockey Club, American Quarter Horse Association, American Morgan Horse Association, and American Saddlebred Horse Association combined. The Support Our Standardbreds (SOS) program helped provide for the care of seven horses in 2016.

Dr. Katie Flynn presented the board with information regarding using microchips for horse identification and traceability. She is the equine staff veterinarian for the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Animal Health Branch.

The committee asked several questions regarding the efficacy of using microchips for identification in Standardbreds. The committee then resolved that Lane would provide them with a transition plan later this year for voting on using microchips in 2018.

The USTA board will reconvene Tuesday (Feb. 28) at 9 a.m. (PST) with the meeting of the new Racing Committee, which is a combination of the former Driver/Trainer, Fairs, Pari-Mutuel, and Regulatory Committees.