by Joe Faraldo, District Chairman
Yonkers, NY — The annual meeting of the United States Trotting Association’s District 8A, encompassing downstate N.Y. , was held on Saturday (Jan. 20) at the Hilltop Oval on the night Foiled Again was foiled in his attempt to achieve a career milestone 100th win. But as they used to say of the Brooklyn Dodgers, “wait till next time”.
District Chairman Joe Faraldo, Yonkers GM Bob Galterio and newly appointed Director of Racing Cammie Haughton guided the 27 attendees through the debate over various rule change proposals. The was no change in any of the current directors including Tim Rooney Jr., Jordan Stratton or Mike Kimmelman Jr.
The entire list of rule changes and the sole by-law proposal may be found here.
Below are the recommendations of those attending the District 8A meeting to guide their directors at the USTA national meetings in Columbus this March. The recommendations are presented as they were numbered.
It was noted that at the beginning that the wording used in all of the proposals should indicate the rules will not apply at “extended pari-mutuel tracks under the jurisdiction of the various state racing commissions.”
1. (uniform claiming allowance percentages) – Approved
2. (head numbers) – Rejected
3. (define “length”) – Approved
4. (breath analyzer requirements) – Approved
5. (vs. human illegal drugs) – No action taken
6. (officials at charted matinees) – Approved
7. (track condition, variant, wind indicator) – Rejected
8. (identifier verifies males)- Rejected
2. 9. (stable vs. corporation) – Specifically section 8.04 trigger the Rejection
10. (scratches due to date change) – Approved
11. (“fair start” pole) – Rejected
12. (driver in accident – medical clearance) – Approved
13. (human disorderly conduct) – Rejected
14. (equality of substitute driver) — Rejected with the caveat, primarily because it was felt the decision should belong to the trainers, not the judges in the first instance and the words comparable with similar skill sets for multiple race wagers could involve way too much discretion in the judges.
15. (whipping regulations #1) – Rejected; it was felt tgat the current rule is sufficient.
16. (whipping regulations #2) – Rejected
17. (“unnecessary” on track conversation) – Rejected
18. (“change of sex” notification) – Rejected
19. (restricted trainers/”trainers”) – No Action taken
20. (pleasure horse registration) – Approved
21. (correction of ownership transfer date) – No action taken
22. (non-reusable horse names) – Rejected
23. (embryo transfers) – Approved
24. (dissolution of district meetings; by-law change) – Rejected with the thought of not only expansion to some form of an on line USTA open discussion and exchange of comments before a cut off date for on line voting. There was also a discussion of the improvements made at Yonkers Raceway by Management with support from its horsemen. That support and cooperation included moving the finish line, removing the photo finish’s distorted angle, adding larger fields and distance races for global consumption, resumption of the International Trot, removing the passing lane to create more movement and thus excitement in the races as well as discussions on the Belmont initiative, a slanted starting gate and banking the racing surface.
A very positive highlight was the appearance of a couple from Somers, N.Y. who are totally new to the business, have acquired a few horses and are enjoying and participating in the game to the fullest. Lastly, the efforts of Cammie Haughton in his careful attention to the important detail of avoiding head to head post times with other tracks in order to increase handle at Yonkers crafted by Management’s Bob Galterio was duly noted.