On Sunday, Meadowlands Racetrack issued a release stating that the track will be putting its mandated training report initiative on the shelf for the time being.
The plan, announced Saturday, stemmed from a race on Friday night regarding Bee A Magician and driver Brian Sears in the TVG Open Mares leg. Sears was assessed a 15-day driving suspension for "lack of judgement in his driving performance."
According to reports, Sears was asked by trainer Richard 'Nifty' Norman to drive the horse "conservatively" because she had been tying up and he did ask Sears to try not to race her on the front end.
The Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association of New Jersey also issued a press release on Sunday with comments from its president, Tom Luchento, noting that he reached out to Gural to set up a meeting to further discuss the training report initiative before its implementation.
“We want to support every effort to provide bettors with all the information possible,” said Luchento. “After a cordial discussion with Jeff, he agreed to delay implementation until we have an opportunity to meet.”
The release from The Meadowlands appears below, followed by the release from the SBOANJ.
After discussions with representatives of the Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association, The Meadowlands has decided to delay its implementation of the trainers reports on each horses condition until a meeting with the SBOANJ takes place. The purpose of the meeting is to determine the most effective and efficient way of implementing such a program.
We want to be clear that this program is designed to provide as much information to the betting public as possible with the purpose of protecting that betting public. This should be viewed as an experiment with the end goal in mind being the protection of our customers, the wagering public. In thoroughbred racing horses have individual workouts that are timed, given designations to describe how the horse was ridden and then that information is published in the Daily Racing Form. Furthermore, the clockers have taken it a step further by providing "clockers reports", in which they give their opinion on each workout they see. This idea we are trying to implement follows the same line of thinking. We are simply trying to provide information on how a horse is doing, that maybe doesn't show up in a program.
We will update everyone further after we meet with the SBOANJ.
(Meadowlands Racetrack)
A Meadowlands initiative to have trainers provide condition comments on each entry was delayed thanks to a phone call from Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association President Tom Luchento.
“I called Meadowlands Chairman Jeff Gural on Sunday morning at 10 a.m., after I heard about this announcement,” Luchento said. “I felt this was something that needed to be discussed with the SBOANJ.
“Initially, I heard from our board member, Dr. Stephen Dey, the veterinarian who treats Bee A Magician, who has an issue with tying up,” Luchento explained. “It was her disappointing fourth-place finish on Friday night as the betting choice which seems to have triggered this action.
“We want to support every effort to provide bettors with all the information possible,” Luchento added. “After a cordial discussion with Jeff, he agreed to delay implementation until we have an opportunity to meet.”
The Meadowlands issued a statement Sunday afternoon that the track agreed to the delay of the Saturday announcement of a new program, which would have “obligated [every trainer] to give the race office an update on how the horse they are entering has been training.”
(SBOANJ)