October 6, 2020
WTBOA Board Members Present: Melodie Bultena, Mary Lou Griffin, Nina Hagen, Dana Halvorson, Petra Lewin, Greg Luce, Debra Pabst, Jennifer Webber.
WTBOA Board Members Absent: Pam Christopherson, Jim Engstrom, Dr. Duane Hopp, David Israel.
WTBOA Staff Members Present: M. Anne Sweet.
The meeting was called to order at 12:23 p.m. via zoom by President Halvorson.
Previous Board Minutes: Minutes from the September 8, 2020 meeting were presented and reviewed. Bultena moved to approve the minutes as presented. Luce seconded the motion. The minutes were approved.
Finance: Even though there were many unexpected sales expenses, the organization still came out better than expected in terms of P&L and better than last year. This puts the organization in pretty good shape financially, although there are still many unknowns with regards to track dues and the impact COVID will have on the bottom line.
Northwest Race Series: There is a carryover of $15,000 for next year. It was to the NWRS advantage to act conservatively this year.
There is still a positive balance in the SIP and WaHIP accounts and they should be solid even though it is expected that there will be some payouts in the final three weeks of racing.
Sales: A sales committee meeting was held on September 29. An overall recap of the sale was discussed and small details were ironed out. Overall the sale was a success and the plan is to go forward with the 2021 sale knowing that some of the changes made this year due to COVID may have to be repeated.
Publications: Working on fall issue which is online only. It should be out in two weeks. There was a mailing sent out last week regarding the stallion season auction and stallion register. The WTBOA will offer a discount for fall (20%) and winter (10%) issue advertisements if patrons advertise in both, as well as 10% off the statistical page if advertiser donates to stallion season auction. Pabst suggested giving stallion season donators a small ad in the back of the magazine.
WHRC/Emerald Downs update: Next meeting is Friday, October 9. It is likely that the national bill regarding horse racing safety and integrity will be a big topic of discussion. The bill has passed in the House and a similar bill is sitting in the senate. The HBPA and WHRC have been sending letters against it.
Industry Promotional Video: Sweet reached out to Emerald Downs President Phil Ziegler and progress is being made on the video. It is close to completion pending final approval from Emerald Downs. It is hopeful that it will be finalized in time for our annual meeting. Lewin volunteered to call Ziegler as well as Wes Petree in hopes of moving forward.
Annual Membership Meeting: The annual membership meeting, which is required to be held each year per WTBOA bylaws, will be held virtually via Zoom this year. It has been scheduled for October 20 at 7 p.m. Reminders will be sent out via email to the membership and social media. Sweet is planning to research screen sharing in order to include a PowerPoint presentation. She will send last year’s PowerPoint out to board members for review. Webber suggested showing Bodenheimer’s stakes win at Keeneland and talk about how it was a win and you’re in race and he is pointed towards the Breeders’ Cup. Bultena suggested reminding people that they can benefit the Washington Thoroughbred Foundation through Amazon Smile and Fred Meyers rewards. Sweet mentioned asking Phil Ziegler to speak on the state of the industry and how COVID has affected Emerald Downs. Webber recommended handling questions through the chat function of zoom. Webber also suggested invited someone to speak about the Thoroughbred performance research that is being done at Emerald Downs.
Goals and Initiatives: Nothing to report.
New Business
Stallion Season Auction: Auction dates are December 16-23. There was a stallion season auction meeting held last week where details were ironed out. It has been requested that stallion seasons be secured as soon as possible. The bulk of the mailing regarding the auction went out last Friday. Henry Leong is planning to start calling people this week.
Awards Banquet: The awards banquet will need to be held virtually or perhaps at a later date in the year, still to be determined. The fundraising auction will be via an online platform. The Enumclaw Sales Pavilion is using an online format that will be explored. Pabst also offered to contact member Elaine Parks to find out about online auctions she has been involved with through the Boy Scouts. It has been suggested that we might announce the champions and have the auction in February, with festivities to take place later, perhaps closer to opening day, or perhaps the champions might be announced virtually via video.
Next meeting: Scheduled for Tuesday, November 24, at 12:15 p.m. via Zoom.
It was moved by Lewin and seconded by Bultena to adjourn the meeting at 1:55 p.m. Motion was approved the meeting was adjourned.
November 24, 2020, Meeting Minutes
Pending approval at next meeting
Next Meeting
Tuesday, January 19, 2020
