May 1, 2020
WTBOA Board Members Present (all via phone): Melodie Bultena, Pam Christopherson, Jim Engstrom, Mary Lou Griffin, Nina Hagen, Dana Halvorson, David Israel, Petra Lewin, Debra Pabst, Jennifer Webber.
WTBOA Board Members Absent: Dr. Duane Hopp, Greg Luce.
WTBOA Staff Members Present: M. Anne Sweet.
The meeting was called to order at 12:12 p.m. at the WTBOA offices by President Halvorson.
Previous Board Minutes: Minutes from the March 27, 2020, meeting were presented and reviewed. Griffin moved to approve the minutes as presented. Bultena seconded the motion. The minutes were approved.
Finance: At this point the budget is at negative $18,562, while the actual is negative $529.
There is a slight concern with people paying their bills (due to economic concerns resulting from COVID-19) and there is a need to keep up on accounts receivable.
Northwest Race Series: At this point, nothing can be decided regarding the NWRS until Emerald Downs produces dates. Currently there is $119,000 in the NWRS account for 2020. There was much discussion regarding the importance of the two-year-old stakes program and races for all upper level horses. It was decided that the WTBOA needs to come up with a plan to make sure that the two-year-old stakes are not scrapped. The possibility of teaming up with the WHBPA is something that the board is hoping to pursue. A phone meeting for the following Monday was scheduled in order to discuss this further.
Sales: As of the April 21 sales committee meeting there were 118 yearlings nominated to the sale with one known defection. We are expecting around a dozen more yearlings. The deadline for the mixed sale entries is May 11.
The sales committee has elected to employ Proxibid in order to facilitate online bidding for the 2020 sale. The costs are going to be approximately $2,750 with a one percent (1%) sell-through fee for any horse that is sold via Proxibid. The sell-through fee will be passed on to the buyer. These costs (excluding the sell-through fee) will be offset by the fact that we will no longer need to pay to livestream the sale through Emerald Downs, which has historically cost $2,500.
There was much discussion regarding COVID-19 and different scenarios regarding the ability to have the sale and various restrictions that might be in place. Several biosecurity protocols were discussed; however, it will be impossible to put a definite plan into place until the sale gets closer. At this point the plan is to have a live sale with horses on the grounds with other details to be fine-tuned.
The catalog needs to go to the printer by July 1.
Publications: The online-only spring issue was released last week as part of the e-newsletter and online. Sweet has received positive feedback. The next issue will be a hard copy and will be the summer sale issue. The plan is to send the catalog to the printer July 1 with the summer issue of the magazine to follow two weeks later. Israel thought that the new format was excellent and several other board members concurred. The online format that Sweet uses for the magazine has several new features some of which allow for an easier way to share things on social media, which will help promote the magazine.
Webber asked board members to send her pictures of horses to be featured on social media for #wabred Wednesday.
WHRC/Emerald Downs update: Emerald Downs has amended their request for racing dates to 44 days from June 20-October 4. (The racing commission approved their request).
It is imperative that all licensed personnel visiting Emerald Downs follow biosecurity protocols. It is important that Emerald provides a united front in showing the Governor’s office that they are taking biosecurity seriously.
Industry Promotional Video: While there is disappointment that the video is not available for use right now, it was decided to wait until Emerald Downs opens back up to see if the original video will be available. If not, Webber suggested talking to Trent (TK) Mitchell, former Emerald Downs TV department employee and current teacher at Shoreline High School, to see if his students would be interested in helping put together a new video.
Goals and Initiatives: Nothing to report.
Old Business: There was a brief mention of lobbying SITA to relax black-type requirements for the year in the wake of COVID-19 disruption of stakes schedules and monies.
Pabst reminded members that as part of the WTBOA we need to find the good in the current situation and try to positively promote racing and the industry’s tenacity during these difficult times.
The TOBA nomination was tabled until more details are known regarding the annual awards banquet for this year.
Next meeting is scheduled for Friday, May 29, 2020, at 12:00 p.m. via conference call. (This was later changed to a Zoom meeting.)
It was moved by Webber and seconded by Israel to adjourn the meeting at 1:35 p.m. Motion was approved and the meeting was adjourned.
May 29, 2020, Meeting Minutes
Pending approval at next meeting
Next Meeting
Friday, June 26, 2020
