FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, June 26, 2017
TOBA Submits Letter to Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission
The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association submitted the following letter regarding the 2016 Parx Oaks, to the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission in advance of its next regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 at 1 p.m. EDT.
June 9, 2017 (updated 6/26/17)
Mr. Tom Chuckas
Thoroughbred Bureau Director
State Horse Racing Commission
2301 N. Cameron Street
Room 304
Harrisburg, PAÂ 17110
Dear Mr. Chuckas:
We are writing you to express our official opposition to the course of action taken by the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission with respect to the official order of finish for the 2016 Parx Oaks. The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA), through its American Graded Stakes Committee, assigns graded and listed status to all eligible stakes races in the Unites States and has done so since its founding in 1973. In addition, the International Cataloguing Standards Committee, of which TOBA is a member, is responsible for establishing black type standards for stakes races in North America. This extraordinary and unprecedented decision by the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission to make Miss Inclusive the co-winner of the race is misleading not only to the racing industry participants and its fan base, but also other significant stakeholders in the breeding and public and private sales segments of our sport.
The Commission’s decision of having two winners, without a dead heat and one in which the first two horses finished a half-length apart, defies established integrity standards and transparency upon which Thoroughbred racing and breeding has long operated.  Our global sport is predicated on the fundamental and accepted rules of racing, which require there be only one winner (except in the case of a dead heat), which was not the case in the 2016 Parx Oaks. Additionally, listing the third and fourth place finishers as second and third place horses is not only misleading and confusing, but factually inaccurate.
We are aware of the difficult complexities you encountered with the order of finish for the 2016 Parx Oaks, but legal expediency should never undermine the integrity of our sport, which extends far beyond the racetrack. We respectfully request that the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission reverse this decision and declare one winner of the race, either Miss Inclusive or Eighth Wonder.
TOBA takes its responsibility of maintaining the highest levels of integrity to the racing and breeding industries very seriously. By artificially manipulating the results of this race, the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission has introduced a precedent which undermines the credibility of our sport.
Thank you for your consideration of our request and please contact me if you wish to discuss this in further detail.
Yours sincerely,
Dan Metzger
President
cc:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Mr. Joe Wilson, Parx Racing
Mr. Sam Elliott, Parx Racing
Mr. Jim Gagliano, The Jockey Club
Mr. Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland and SITA
Mr. Carl Hamilton, International Cataloguing Standards Committee
Dr. J. David Richardson, American Graded Stakes Committee
Mr. Ed Martin, Association of Racing Commissioners International