Here is an official reply from the ridiculous USTA.
We appreciate your concern regarding the 2 year old filly, Loussolataire. The proper treatment of our equine athletes is of utmost importance for the industry to continue, therefore we take matters as such very serious. I personally reached out to the trainer this morning to discuss this particular filly. The trainer, Mr. Renard, who is also a veterinarian, indicated that the filly has been scratched for the 6/27 at Carlinville already, therefore she will not be racing on the 27th. He further mentioned that depending on how she does in the Hawthorne race, he may or may not race her on the 29th as well. As a licensed professional in the field of animal care, Mr. Renard stated that under no circumstances would he train or race a horse in a manner which would knowingly be harmful for any of the horses in his care. Although, he stated that this filly, as all of his horses, are extremely durable enough to handle consecutive days of racing. When I look at the filly’s performance report, (8 starts- 3 wins, 1 second, 1 third $ 7,758 2, 2:01.4 M), she shows that she is fairly durable. He mentioned that the amount of training that he does in the early stages and the high amount of jog miles at that age create a solid base for his stock. It appears that the training methods that Mr. Renard utilizes does provide success. As you see below, his trainer percentage is quite high, despite the small number of starts per year. Batting close to .500 would require a significant amount of care and consideration for the horse to stay at such a high level, so I would assume that Mr. Renard balances that considerably well. In addition, from a regulatory standpoint, there are no reported violations of any kind connected to Steven Renard.
In the early 90’s, you may remember when we raced multiple heats on the same day for our 2 and 3 year olds. For the most part, that practice has been abandoned for the reasons you have mentioned, although the USTA rules still permit such an action in the event that heat racing is needed. Lastly, to further show from a USTA regulation perspective, the following rule applies:
§ 14.03 Length of Race and Number of Heats.—Races or heats shall be given at a stated distance in units not shorter than a sixteenth of a mile.
(b) Two-Year-Old—No two-year-old shall be permitted to start in a heat or race exceeding one mile in distance and no two-year-old shall be permitted to race in more than two heats or dashes in any single day. Starting any two-year-old in violation of this rule shall subject the track member to a fine and the winnings of such two-year-old shall be declared unlawful.
Therefore, there are no current restrictions to racing multiple/consecutive days.
Trainer Summary
Class Exp. Date
Current License: General 09/30/2020
Year Purse Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Money Won UTRS Mat. & Qual. Starts
2018 16 5 2 3 $ 10,742 0.444 1
2017 54 23 8 4 $ 48,779 0.533 2
2016 30 12 5 5 $ 17,106 0.548 3
2015 27 18 3 0 $ 21,886 0.728 0
2014 19 9 6 2 $ 25,611 0.684 0
Respectfully,
TC Lane
Director of Registry and Member Services
U.S. Trotting Association
6130 S. Sunbury Rd
Westerville, OH 43081
877.800.8782, ext. 3203
www.ustrotting.co m"Harness the Excitement"!
