The Board of Directors of the U.S. Trotting Association raced past the half-mile pole on Sunday, completing the middle day of its 2010 annual meeting with a focus on promotions and marketing plans
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The full board met on Sunday morning, and heard USTA Executive Vice President Mike Tanner outline preliminary plans for a national promotion.
“We’re going to plan a ‘National Day at the Races,’” Tanner said. “We’re going to ask our members to bring friends to the track, that will offer special promotions and we’re going to get permission from the race commissions to let people ride in the starting gate and see parts of the tracks they don’t normally see.”
Tanner said the early plan is to mount the promotion in August, prior to the start of the college football season.
The USTA Registration Committee approved a plan to permit those who register horses to join the Full Circle program in use among other breeds.
“It will permit the registrations to be marked,” Ellen Harvey, Director of Harness Racing Communications, said. “When a horse reaches the end of the line in breeding or racing the person holding the papers can contact the original breeder, and offer them an opportunity to buy the horse back or contribute to its retraining or adoption.
“It’s purely voluntary, and if the original owner doesn’t want to help, or cannot help, they will be able to decline the offer. Many original owners, however, have said they would buy their horse back or find it a suitable home -- if they knew it had reached a point where it needed help.”
USTA Chairman Ivan Axelrod, who had headed a special marketing committee, announced to the Communications Committee on Sunday that his group would be renewing its efforts in 2010.
“I think last time, when we tried to do something for the tracks, they weren’t interested,” Axelrod said, referring to the development of a simplified racing program. “This time, we’re going to ask the tracks to participate, perhaps better focusing our efforts on working with them.”
Communications Committee Chairman Jason Settlemoir also made a call for the USTA to establish a strategic plan for marketing the sport, referring to a marketing report commissioned by the Association and executed by Dr. Joan Zielinski.
“I think a lot of people didn’t like what they read (in the report),” Settlemoir said. “But there were a couple of things I really liked. I think what we need to do is come up with a plan, so that we can move forward together -- or else we’ll be in bigger trouble.”
The USTA Directors will reach the finish line on Monday morning, at a session at which they will make final decisions on several rule change proposals, endorse an operating budget and hear presentations from the American Horse Council, Harness Horsemen International and Standardbred Canada.
(USTA)