DEL MAR : Owners Making Play for Clout Like Stewards

The fledgling Thoroughbred Owners of California have put together an agenda that targets the scope of power enjoyed by stewards under the California Horse Racing Board.

The group, the first to specifically represent the interests of the owners, will make a presentation at the CHRB meeting Sept. 23 in San Francisco, according to Ed Friendly, the president.

“They have more power than the president,” Friendly said of the stewards. “They can do anything they want with no prohibitions. It’s ridiculous. Who fines them when they make a mistake? I guess they just don’t make mistakes.”

The TOC platform questions the stewards’ roles in scratches, jockey changes, training programs and workouts, eligibility and assessment of fouls.

The public generally becomes aware of stewards only when an inquiry is posted.

Even then, they are a faceless and virtually nameless group. The TOC’s concern is with their power, not with any particular group of stewards, or individuals.

“The TOC hopes to encourage the state to improve overall training, qualifications and competence of stewards,” the owners’ agenda says. “(And we) feel the authority of the stewards is too broad.”

The relationship between eligibility and workouts is an aspect of the stewards’ duties that particularly nettles the owners. The stewards determine a horse’s eligibility according to recent and satisfactory workouts.

“What’s recent and what’s satisfactory?” Friendly asked. “If they know so much about horses, why don’t they train them?”

The consistency of inquiries is also attacked.

The TOC statement says, “A foul is a foul and should not be interpreted by the stewards as to whether it affects the outcome of a race. . . . This type of subjectivity undermines the credibility of stewards’ decisions.”

One of racing’s newer features popular with racing fans is the “quick official” rule, which often results in races being declared official before the horses return to the front straightaway at the conclusion of a race. (Jockeys can request inquiries through an outrider.) The TOC, however, is concerned that it rushes the stewards and prevents them from adequately reviewing a race that should be reviewed.

“I don’t know if (the quick official rule) should be eliminated or reviewed,” Friendly said. “But it needs to be looked at.”

The TOC also will ask that all tracks use “also eligible” lists. Those lists are provisional entries in the case of scratches. Del Mar uses also-eligible lists, but Hollywood Park, for one, does not.

“You may have 20 or 30 entries but only 12 draw in,” Friendly said. “You get three scratches and you have a nine-horse field. With an also-eligible list, you still get a full field. Bettors like larger fields and it’s fairer to owners and trainers who have horses they’d like to run.”

The TOC agenda also will ask that rules regarding the crew at the starting gate be examined.

“You ever heard of a starter suspended?” Friendly asked. “Any mistake at the starting gate affects the outcome of the race, much more so, I think, than mistakes the jockeys make. The starting gate is critical, but how many inquiries do you ever hear over what goes on there?”

The TOC also has a legislative agenda aimed at lessening licensing fees, eliminating sales taxes on the purchase of horses, the establishment of an investment tax credit for thoroughbred purchases and asking that the breeding and racing of thoroughbreds be treated as an agricultural industry.

The TOC becomes the “official” representative body of California thoroughbred owners on Jan. 1, 1995, but its plate is obviously already full.

Horse Racing Notes

Corey Nakatani drew a five-day suspension for his ride on Eagle Eyed in the Del Mar Derby last Monday, but received an injunction that will allow him to finish the Del Mar meeting. It ends Wednesday with the Del Mar Futurity. Nakatani has never won a riding title, but he leads Del Mar jockeys in victories. . . . Houston Sunrise will not run in the Del Mar Futurity because of illness, according to trainer David Bernstein.

Skimble, ridden by Pat Day, is top-weighted in Saturday’s $100,000 Palomar Handicap for older fillies and mares over 1 1/16th miles on the turf course. Skimble will carry 119 pounds, three more than Prying, with Laffit Pincay Jr. aboard. . . . Del Mar revives its Rocking Chair Derby, an equine old-timers’ game, on Saturday. It features retired jockeys, in order of position, Frank Olivares, Danny Velasquez, Bill Harmatz, Ray York, Don Pierce, Rudy Campas and Jack Leonard, each on a horse carrying 120 pounds. There will be no betting on the 5 1/2-furlong race.