by Don Clippinger

The topics for the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association summer meeting, which opens on Friday, appear to be ripped straight from today’s headlines: health and welfare of the horse, splits of interstate wagering dollars, and medication issues.

In fact, the topics for the three-day meeting, to be held at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, Pennsylvania, were set in March, well before the breakdown of Eight Belles after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) touched off United States House of Representatives subcommittee hearings.

“We were crafting how we would consider these issues long before the Kentucky Derby and the congressional hearings,” said Joe Santanna, president of the National HBPA and the host Pennsylvania HBPA.

The meeting brings together representatives of the HBPA’s 30 regional affiliates to delve into today’s hot-button issues in racing.

Kicking off Friday’s sessions will be a panel on the welfare and safety of the horse that will be chaired by Remi Bellocq, the National HBPA’s chief executive officer. Scheduled to appear on that panel were Ed Bowen, president of the Grayson-Jockey Club Foundation; Michael Dickinson, the former trainer who developed the Tapeta Footings synthetic racing surface; Jay Hickey, American Horse Council president; Ed Martin, Association of Racing Commissioners International president; trainer Ken McPeek; Keeneland President Nick Nicholson; Scott Palmer, D.V.M., president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners; and Alex Waldrop, National Thoroughbred Racing Association president.

Also on Friday, Bob Reeves, president of the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Group, will provide an update on negotiations with racetracks and advance-deposit wagering providers for a larger share of interstate wagering revenues for horse owners. His topic will be, “Why owners have a right to fix the simulcast model.”

On Saturday, Kent Stirling, the veteran Florida HBPA executive director, will chair a panel on equine medication and testing. Scheduled to appear on his panel are George Maylin, Ph.D., who heads the New York Racing and Wagering Board’s drug testing program at Cornell University, and Thomas Tobin, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Kentucky’s Maxwell H. Gluck Research Center.

The sessions conclude Sunday with a National HBPA board meeting.

Don Clippinger is editorial director of Thoroughbred Times