Columbus, OH — On Thursday (Dec. 3), Chairperson Gabe Wand and Directors Bruce Alexander and Royal Roland hosted the annual USTA District 4A/4B meeting.  For the first time ever, all USTA District Meetings are being held virtually online this year.

The meeting included opening messages from USTA Executive Vice President and CEO Mike Tanner and USTA President Russell Williams. The agenda included a discussion of and voting on 17 rule change proposals.

Following are the results on the 2021 rule change proposals from District 4A/4B:

Rule Change Proposal-Result
Proposal #1 (Yearling price in program) — Rejected
Proposal #2 (Prohibit seeding of any divisions) — Approved
Proposal #3 (Showing the number of claims on a horse) — Approved
Proposal #4 (List of claimants; reason claim lost) — Rejected
Proposal #5 (Electronic draw details) — Approved
Proposal #6 (Publish entry sheets online) — Approved
Proposal #7 (Electronic draw guidelines) — Rejected
Proposal #8 (Driver choices prior to draw) — Rejected
Proposal #9 (Position of handholds) — Rejected
Proposal #10 (Hobbles – accurate program information) — Approved
Proposal #11 (Nerved horses reporting) — Approved – with amendment to increase fine to $2,500
Proposal #12 (Gelding/spaying of horse reporting) — Approved
Proposal #13 (Increase horse name – 18 to 20 spaces) — Rejected
Proposal #14 (Outside source approval of horse names) — Rejected
Proposal #15 (Ownership percentages recording) — Rejected
Proposal #16 (Syndicate member requirements) — Approved
Proposal #17 (Sulky change submission requirement) — Approved

Following the vote on the rule change proposals, several participants made favorable comments about the format of the online meeting and the contributions of the USTA staff to its success.

The meeting commenced at 1 p.m. (CST) and was adjourned by Chairperson Wand at 1:59 p.m.

For the schedule of remaining USTA District Meetings, click here.