March 10, 2010
 
Annual Meeting, March 28th:   The Association’s 48th Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday afternoon, March 28th at the Hilton Hotel near Cal Expo. A buffet luncheon will begin at 12:00 Noon followed by a business meeting and awards presentations at 12:30 p.m. Harness horsemen and horsewomen are invited to attend this annual function. Among the awards presented at the meeting will be the 2009 Sires Stakes Champions, the 2009 Stallion of the Year, the 2010 California Hall of Fame Inductees, and CHHA’s Horse of the Year for 2009. Be sure to RSVP at the Association office (916) 263-7888, fax (916) 263-7887 or email us at “alanhorowitz@sprintmail.com”.
 
Directors Set for 2010:  Three Association members each submitted a letter of intent to be a candidate in the 2010 Election for Directors: Alan Kirschenbaum (incumbent), Dave Haness (incumbent) and Bobby Johnson. Director Jim Perez whose term on the Board  expires on March 28th , the date of the Annual Meeting, will not be a candidate. Accordingly, there will be no need for a formal Election of Directors at this year’s Annual Meeting.  Incumbents Alan Kirschenbaum and Dave Haness will continue to serve for another 3-year term as Owner-Breeders on the Board and Bobby Johnson will fill the Trainer-Driver position to be vacated by Jim Perez and serve for a 3-year term. The full Board for 2010 when seated at the Annual Meeting will consist of Dave Haness, Bobby Johnson, Alan Kirschenbaum, Dr. Wayne Knittel, David Neumeister, Andy Perez, Rick Plano, Chris Schick and Rocky Stidham.
 
Racing Tougher Than Usual At Cal Expo:  This year our Winter/Spring race meet at Cal Expo has been even tougher than usual due to the extensive number of rainy days and two purse cuts. The former makes racing difficult for all of our racing participants while the latter impacts our horsemen and horsewomen at the Paymaster of Purses. The reduction in the purses that are currently raced for each night reflects the need for the purse pool to repay the large overpayment that accrued during the Fall race meet [the average nightly handle for the first thirty-five nights of the Winter/Spring race meet is $721,739; and Cal Expo is currently paying out about $110,000 in purses per race week]. The current purse schedule – as low as purses have been for many, many years – has become the major factor in some of our horsemen deciding to move their race horses to other out-of-state racing venues. Hopefully, the weather will change for the better as Spring arrives and the purse pool will continue to gain ground and reduce the overpayment over the coming months.
 
Racing Board Approves Fall Race Dates for Cal Expo:  At its February meeting at Santa Anita the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) approved a schedule of race dates for harness racing at Cal Expo beginning on Friday, August 13th and continuing thru Saturday, December 18th. The current meet is scheduled to end on Saturday, June 19th and this Summer’s Fair racing for mixed breeds runs from Wednesday, July 14th thru Sunday, July 25th. In meeting with Cal Expo their representatives have indicated that one quadrant of the barns in the backstretch and the back track should be available to harness horsemen and their horses during the break between our two meets as it was last year.