Keep a cool head while others are losing theirs

Last Sunday morning, a group of about two dozen protesters gathered on the corner of Santa Anita’s Gate No. 8 and Baldwin Avenue, where approaching vehicles are tempted to veer either left to the racetrack or right to the Westfield shopping mall.

Spurred by the 21 equine fatalities at the meet since it opened in late December and the temporary halt to racing, the protesters were armed with placards bearing what has now become a familiar litany of messages: “Horse Racing Kills Horses” . . . “Death at the Races” . . . “Horses Want to Live” – along with one tall, imposing sign in bold black lettering that proclaimed “Payless Store Closing – Everything 50% Off.” I immediately considered my shoes.

There was no racing at Santa Anita that day, which made the protest seem even more symbolic than usual. The only activity behind the thickly ivied fenceline rimming the stable area was the winding down of horses going out late for gallops on the training track. The grandstand was empty, save for a few in the maintenance crew putting a shine to a facility that had sat empty of live racing customers since the previous Sunday.

Similar protesters have assembled at Santa Anita in the past for high media visibility during local renewals of the Breeders’ Cup, while Del Mar has a fairly regular rotation of familiar faces picketing its entrance when there is any kind of spike in the number of equine fatalities.

Still, the Thoroughbred industry should not feel specifically persecuted, since such activist attention has become a part of doing business for any animal-related business in this era of heightened sensitivity to the human use of creatures both great and small. (see “Blackfish” and google Sea World for cautionary references.)

For the vast majority of the news-consuming public, it should come as no surprise that horse racing means only the Kentucky Derby. The fact that racing is going on anywhere else, and that horses are in possible jeopardy, becomes alarming without any advantage of context. And then, as night follows a hard day, mainstream media does its part to give the story galloping legs, as the sport has witnessed in the past couple of weeks. For instance:

“I have no idea why horse racing is still a thing,” said Robin Lundberg on the Sports Illustrated podcast “SI Now.”

Lundberg added, in response to the common racing trope that Thoroughbreds are doing only what comes naturally, “If they liked to do it so much, you wouldn’t need to be whipping them to get them to go faster.”

At this point of barely contained panic, cooler heads are at a premium, especially if they come with experience in both Thoroughbred racing and in the real worlds of mass communication and political consequences. Horse racing is, after all, the most highly regulated sport at both state and federal levels.

One of those cool heads belongs to Chuck Winner, chairman of the California Horse Racing Board. As a founder of a company specializing in campaigns for ballot measures, Winner knows what it takes to move the needle of public opinion. As the week dawned, and horses returned to light exercise on a main track that had been closed for a second inspection and renovation, Winner was asked if Thoroughbred racing might be under some kind of reactive legislative siege.

“At least as of now I’m fairly confident that we have support and a lot of understanding in Sacramento,” Winner said. “I’m sure there must be one or more legislators who are not supportive. But what I’ve heard is that they recognized we’re doing everything we can.”

In addition to the work on the track, which has been subjected to tight seals during heavy rains this winter, “everything” appears to include the unfurling of a so-called “new normal” by Santa Anita management when it comes to the increased monitoring of horses before they race and before they train. In addition, there will be the establishment of a management-level veterinary supervisory position.

“Right now, everybody is most concerned with the present and the circumstances at Santa Anita on a moment-to-moment basis,” Winner said. “Owners and trainers are rightfully concerned about the future and how they deal with their horses. It’s not just a situation of crisis management. It’s a matter of preparation going forward, and prepare so there is not a crisis you need to manage in the future.”

Without a doubt, the protesters and their signs will be back on the Santa Anita scene when racing is scheduled to resume March 22, after which there will be a ripe opportunity for exposure April 6, when the Santa Anita Handicap and Santa Anita Derby will be run.

But even if the sport has been spared any serious casualties by that time, there will remain fundamental changes necessary to provide proponents of Thoroughbred racing a rational argument to continue. Check off these boxes, and then the modern world might not be quite so hostile:

◗ Drop the Lasix ban from the proposed national uniform medication and testing legislation, thereby neutralizing only the most stubborn opposition.

◗ Install synthetic training surfaces where possible to give bad weather tracks a safe option. ◗ Eliminate whips. ◗ And commence a full-court press backing the ban of sale and transport of horses for slaughter.

Ready . . .go.

JAY HOVDEY