by Frank Angst

While tote companies, racetrack officials, trainers, owners, and jockeys all have plenty to say about industry rules, regulators attending this year’s Association of Racing Commissioners International convention will take some time to hear from horseplayers.

Keeneland Race Course-based handicapper Mike Maloney, who in December brought attention to potential past-posting issues, will participate in a “Players Perspective” discussion at this year’s convention, scheduled from March 24 through March 28 at the Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas. After checking in on Monday, the 74th annual convention will begin in earnest on Tuesday.

At the Symposium on Racing and Gaming in December, Maloney documented his ability to wager on a Fair Grounds race after the event had started. While Fair Grounds owner Churchill Downs Inc. characterized the problem as an isolated failure to stop wagering when the gates opened, a similar problem occurred at New York Racing Association’s Aqueduct on January 3.

Maloney, who will speak on a busy Tuesday at the convention, has been serving on a Kentucky Horse Racing Authority committee that is looking into the problem.

Other Tuesday presentations include about a two-hour morning session on wagering security, which will include a discussion on negative settlement files from John Brooks, president of offshore outlet Racing and Gaming Services. National Thoroughbred Racing Association President Alex Waldrop will address the regulators on Tuesday afternoon on ideas for increasing interest in Thoroughbred racing.

Wednesday will feature a racing medication roundtable and Thursday will offer a discussion of testing procedures. The annual dinner and awards presentation also is scheduled for Thursday. The convention will wrap up Friday morning, when the RCI Board of Directors meets.

Also Tuesday, the board of directors of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium will meet in Austin for their spring board meeting. The RMTC will hear reports from four of its committees, including an anabolic steroid regulation update from the Scientific Advisory Committee.

Also meeting in Austin this week is the Association of Racing Chemists, United States Section.

Frank Angst is senior writer for Thoroughbred Times