Columbus, OH — On Tuesday (Nov. 17), Chairperson Don Marean and Directors Lenny Calderone, George Ducharme, Stephen O’Toole and Dr. Timothy Powers hosted the annual USTA District 9 meeting. For the first time ever, all USTA District Meetings are being held virtually online.

The meeting included opening messages from USTA Executive Vice President/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 9:

Rule Change Proposal-Result
Proposal #1 (Yearling price in program) — Approved
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 (following the vote, it was suggested that the amount be increased to $2,500 and mentioned at the Annual Board of Directors Meeting)
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, those in attendance were afforded an opportunity to address various industry concerns. There were extensive discussions of USTA’s legislative involvement as well as the structure and formation of the Standardbred Racing Investigative Fund.

The meeting commenced at 4 p.m. and was adjourned by Chairperson Don Marean at 5:32 p.m.

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