In a recent LTE to the Thoroughbred Daily News, founding board member of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance and still active horseman Reiley McDonald further exposed the sham that is racing “aftercare.” Here is some of what the Kentucky-based McDonald had to say:
On Auctions:
“Early on, the sales companies developed a mechanism whereby 0.05% of public auction sales could support the TAA – paid by sellers, buyers and the sales companies themselves. We intentionally started small (too small for my taste). The goal was to get industry buy-in, prove the concept, and expand over time. The original structure included an ‘opt in’ by sellers and buyers. Over the next couple of years, sales companies moved toward mandatory deductions on the seller side and buyer mechanisms that allowed opt-out.
“But here is the problem: we never grew beyond the starter number. Thirteen years later, the contribution is still 0.05%. That means that on a $200,000 horse, aftercare receives roughly $100 from the seller, $100 from the sales company, and $100 from the buyer (unless the buyer opts out). This assessment was never intended to stay permanently at 0.05%. It was supposed to increase within a few years. It didn’t….”
On The Jockey Club’s $2.5M “donation” to aftercare (see our post):
“TJC recently stated it donates $2.5 million annually to the TAA. I don’t dispute that number…but I do believe it is misleading without clarification, because a meaningful portion of funding is generated through breeder-paid registry transaction fees, effectively a pass-through mechanism. In other words, it is not ‘TJC’ alone funding aftercare through TJC. It is actually the breeders.”
And finally, on Kentucky’s new law that allocates $250,000 to aftercare each year (note: the $250K comes from the subsidies KY Racing is being gifted via racinos):
“The Commonwealth of Kentucky…provides $250,000 annually to the TAA, starting in 2025. … But given what Kentucky earns from Thoroughbreds, it is insufficient.
“Look at stallion-season tax revenue alone. Even using conservative assumptions…Kentucky could conservatively realize around $40 million in state revenue from stallion seasons alone. Add auctions, racing, tourism, payroll, and sales tax on goods and services, and revenue to Kentucky becomes far larger.
“With that reality, a $250,000 aftercare contribution is not a ‘solution.’ It is a token. Given the economic reality, Kentucky should be funding aftercare at a far higher level, well into the millions.”
“Token” is one way to describe it. I, however, prefer others – disgusting and disgraceful chief among them.
What did Mr. McDonald expect in an industry that daily and routinely abuses horses and causes lameness and death in so many horses that should have been allowed to grow to maturity but instead were forced to suffer as racehorses subject to Degenerative Joint Disease as yearlings and two-year-olds not to mention a list of other physical injuries specific to racing?
Did he not know that exploiting and discarding horses was, and still is, par for the course in an industry that routinely injures and dopes horses for ego trips, tax write-offs, and sociopathic greed?
Does Mr. McDonald not know that for some of these so-called “horsemen” a top tier Thoroughbred could be perceived to be worth more dead than alive? Take the case of ALYDAR as an example of that morally depraved horror.