TUCSON, Ariz. - The National Thoroughbred Racing Association is reviewing an annual budget and identifying its certification requirements for a program designed to address public concerns about racehorse and rider safety, the executive chairman of the NTRA said Thursday at the University of Arizona Symposium on Racing in Tucson.
Bob Elliston, the NTRA chairman and the president of Turfway Park, said that the accreditation program had not yet been formally launched because of the amount of work necessary to get it off the ground. The program will likely have a budget of $800,000 in 2009, Elliston said, and will require racetracks to adopt specific practices in order to be certified as being in compliance. Fifty-five racetracks have pledged to participate in the program.
The NTRA announced the formation of the program in October in response to lingering fallout from the high-profile breakdowns of a number of racehorses over the past three years, culminating with the death of the filly Eight Belles after her second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby this year. Compliance with the program will not be mandatory for racetracks, but NTRA officials have said that they believe that racing fans will avoid betting on uncertified tracks.
\"We want to publish individual accreditation awareness and progress, and the betting public will follow that accreditation and vote with their wallets,\" Elliston said.
Really Mr. Elliston???
......so, if the major venues with the country\'s best race meets/horses(CALI,NY,KENTUCKY,FLORIDA)do NOT get certified by NTRA,then the bettors should not wager there, but at the smaller NTRA certified venues with garbage racing---BRILLIANT!!.
Not a snowballs chance in hell.Another clueless empty suit.Since the article states than 55 venues have signed on, the point is moot.It might enlighten Mr. Elliston to see what would happen to the handle at Saratoga if NYRA decided to pull out of the NTRA accreditation program,probably nothing.
Mike
