T.R. Phone Home

Today afforded the opportunity to speak again with Mike Ziegler, head of the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance, via telephone. It was a follow up call to our April meeting at Santa Anita regarding certified stables. The gist of the call was that, as much as they would like to, the NTRA cannot certify stables in any immediate fashion. Currently Mr. Ziegler's time is devoted to accrediting 30 race tracks in 2009, of which only two are officially complete at this time (CD and KEE). His plate is full and rightly so. Accrediting tracks is agreeably by far the most important thing at this time.

Instead any immediate movement would have to be taken on by NTRA CEO, Alex Waldrop, who undoubtedly has his hands full. Another twist in the matter is that everything the NTRA does must first go through their board of directors which is comprised of a lot of industry groups. That's where things get really sticky. Members of these boards are people I've already tried to contact regarding certifying stables. I do not know how interested they are in the matter. The KTA-KTOB's response on certifying stables was that it's been considered for 30 years, half dozen plans have been discussed, but nothing has been implemented. Meanwhile communications with the TOC, as one has put it, "have not been productive." If the industry has seen no need to act in the last three decades, why would they now? If the board does not give their blessing, the NTRA cannot take any action.

So the choice was given to either stall progress or to continue certifying stables on my own without the NTRA. Going alone of course defeats the whole purpose because it would just make the game more fragmented when consolidation is what the game needs.

The reality is as much as I push against the starting gate, it won't open in an official manner. Like Barbaro I'll simply be caught and reloaded. So all one can do at this point is wait.

Perseverance!