Darrell Vienna, a major force behind the CTHA, issued a challenge to his counterparts at the TOC this week.
"They want to make it like both sides are making misrepresentations," Vienna said. "We've said they've made misrepresentations, and we've identified the misrepresentations. And they've accused us of making misrepresentations but they don't identify a single one.
"The fact of the matter is ... we haven't made any misrepresentations. I challenge them to point out one thing that can be attributed to the CTHA that is a misrepresentation."
Vienna rattled off what he claims are three major misrepresentations on the part of the TOC:
That the CTHA is a trainer-dominated organization.
"That's impossible," Vienna said. "You have to be an owner to be a member."
The TOC's position is the trainers already have their own group - the California Thoroughbred Trainers.
The TOC wants to hold open elections but the law prevents it. After the CTHA turned in more than 1,100 signatures on a petition seeking a decertification election to the California Horse Racing Board, the TOC said dual-licensees could not participate.
That Vienna blocked
legislation that would have
allowed owners with multiple
licenses to participate in TOC
elections.
"How would I block a law?"
Vienna asked. "Am I like
Superman going in and telling
the legislators to stop, that
Darrell Vienna says don't do it.
But more importantly, there was
no bill. There was no
legislation that they
introduced.
"How can you oppose something
that doesn't exist?"
The latest uproar, of course, is
over the TOC's campaign to
contact the TOC members who
signed the petition seeking to
decertify the TOC and asking
them to rescind their
signatures.
Vienna said what's at issue is
quite simple - trust.
"The CTHA has trust in the
ownership, trust in the people
that they will make a proper
decision when properly informed
of the facts," he said. "The
TOC's position is we need to put
the owners back to sleep because
they don't understand the issues
and we do.
"Interestingly enough, in every
other thoroughbred racing
jurisdiction in the United
States, there is not a single
other representative group where
the thoroughbred owners and
trainers are represented by
separate organizations. And, in
the state of California, with
regards to every other racing
breed - Arabians, quarter
horses, Appaloosas, and even the
mules - the owners and trainers
are joined in a single
organization.
"The only place where things are
different is in California, with
regards to the thoroughbred
owners organization and the
thoroughbred trainers
organization. In all these
years, no one seems to have
adopted (our) model. If it was
so superior, don't you think
someone else would have come
along and said, `Hey, that
sounds great.' Well, they
haven't. No one else has adopted
the model."
Unlike some who believe the CHRB
is trying to disrupt the
decertification process, Vienna
says he believes the
commissioners genuinely are
trying to do what's right.
"They just haven't done what it
takes to find the right thing,"
he said. "I just don't know
what's taken them so long, but
believe me we're trying to help
them find a way."
Vienna was not pleased the names
of the owners who signed the
petition were made public to the
TOC.
"They (CHRB) screwed it all up,
and the one thing they did,
releasing the names of the
petitioners to the opposing
side, spawned a public relations
effort by the (TOC) to get
people to rescind their original
petition decisions," he said.
"They are never to release the
names of the signatures.
"We went to every member (about
7,800) that we could reach and
explained that we would like
different representation and to
see if they would join us. Now,
the TOC receiving a list of the
1,100 can focus its efforts on
the 1,100, which is quite an
advantage in addition to causing
dissension."
Read More: by Art Wilson
Daily News.com