When it comes to how Andy Roberts, DVM, feels about the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), the USTA director and treasurer not only talks the talk but walks the walk.
Occasionally, a story lands on the front page or drifts into your news feed, and you get that strange feeling that you’ve been here before. Not the details — they’re always different — but the questions underneath them. It’s like hearing an old song played in a new key. You find yourself momentarily paused, shaking your head a little and thinking, I know this story. I’ve seen it before, just in a place nobody would have expected.
The August issue of Hoof Beats features Allegiant, the American-bred and Swedish-based trotter who took the world by storm with her world-record 1:48 victory in the Elitlopp this May.
Horsepeople, like many others in our society, may still think of a government-issued license as nothing more than a privilege — a permission slip controlled entirely by the rules and regulations under which it is granted. However, once that license is issued, and the licensee has spent years building a livelihood, reputation and body of experience around it, the license becomes something far more substantial. It develops real value — both economic and personal — and that value should not be impaired, reduced or taken away.
On May 31, Allegiant scorched Stockholm’s Solvalla Racecourse with a 1:48 mile, becoming the world’s fastest trotter ever with her victory in the Elitlopp.
The July issue of Hoof Beats shares the stories of this year’s Harness Racing Hall of Fame inductees, who received the sport’s highest honor on July 5, in Campbell Hall, N.Y.
ver the last several years, conversations surrounding equine welfare and racing safety have increasingly moved from a general discussion to actual measurable expectations. Regulators, industry organizations, racetracks, horsepeople, veterinarians and the public are all asking similar questions: What information is being collected? What trends are being identified? And how is the racing industry using that information to improve the safety and long-term welfare of our horses?
Every year, on the first Sunday of July, harness racing’s greatest human and equine performers are enshrined into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame, in Goshen, N.Y., amid a large celebration on the lawn of the Harness Racing Museum. Every fan of the sport should attend the event at least once to appreciate the celebration and absorb the history that goes along with it.
