 I would just want to confirm we have our quorum. So I'll do a roll call. And I just, before I start that, I just want to make sure that everyone understands that we do record our meetings and then they'll be available for our archives. Commissioner Cameron. Good morning. Here. Good morning, everyone. Commissioner O'Brien. Good morning. And Commissioner Zanicka. Here. Good morning, everybody. Good morning. And commissioner Stevens. Here. Good morning, everyone. We have our. And just as a reminder. Good morning. And as we've been seeing that we have a lot of questions going on. I'm really excited with the outbreak of the pandemic, Governor Baker did provide some relief and the open meeting on allowing us to run our public. This virtual virtual mechanisms. So today we will be meeting remotely using. The month technology should anything disrupt this. we'll have further introductions there. We'll call to order meeting public meeting of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission number 306. Today is Thursday, June 16th, 2020. It is 10.03. We get started. I just wanna say that we are really pleased today to have the opportunity to discuss horse racing. We've invited representatives from Plain Ridge Park Casino, Penn National and the Harness Horsemen's Association of New England to participate in a roundtable discussion on next steps to reopening the racetrack at PPC. The commission always prioritizes the safety of the horses and the riders. This year, however, we must make paramount the health and well-being of every individual involved in horse racing in light of the continued public health risks associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Today we will discuss protocols for conducting safe and sustainable racing as the Commonwealth's economy begins to reopen in phases determined by Governor Baker's Administration based on public health metrics that are associated with COVID-19. Any guideline discussed or established today is of course subject to the governor's industry specific guidance. His administration may issue as well as any additional federal, state and local standards rules and regulations. We'll also have the opportunity to discuss at least preliminarily, I think, additional next steps for opening up the track and commencement of racing. Under Governor Baker's initial reopening guidance, the racetrack had been slated for phase four. Recently that designation shifted and the reopening of the racetrack is now set for phase three, aligned with the timeline established for the casinos. Today's discussion is intended to be as controversial as this virtual format permits. I'll do my best to ensure that everyone is heard. Please feel free to lean in or raise your hand. And I ask my fellow commissioners to help me in that effort to make sure that I don't miss anyone. So thank you at this point in time. I'm going to turn it over to our interim executive director Karen Wells and our director of racing, Dr. Alex Lightbaugh. Thank you. Good morning, Madam Chair and members of the commission. Happy to report things are looking very positive for reopening right at the beginning of phase three consistent with the governor's guidelines. And we do understand the importance of the industry to those whose livelihoods depend on racing. So this is a bit different from the process the MGC had for reopening of the casinos because we only have one licensee engaged in live racing. Therefore, instead of the MGC putting out proactive guidelines for racing, the proposed plan, we are reviewing the proposed plan submitted by our casino and our director of racing and the harness horseman's association can provide the commission with feedback in this round table format. My understanding is that we're in a very good position regarding the plan and opening as soon as possible. So I'll just turn it over to Alex for her comments and then PPC can give you the highlights from the plan and then we can engage in the discussion after that if that makes sense to all the commissioners. That makes sense. Does that sound good fellow commissioners? Excellent. Okay. Alex, good morning. Good morning. Good morning commissioners. And today we have Chris McElaine with Penn National Gaming with us to talk about the Penn plan for opening Plain Ridge. Also Bob McHugh, the president of the harness horseman's association Frank Antonacci, a director with the group and Marty Corey. And they'll all be participating in the round table discussion. We've had numerous talks over the last couple of months about how to reopen. And I feel like we have a good plan in place right now. And I'm happy that we're reaching this stage where it looks like opening is on the horizon. I think everybody is very excited about that. And with that mentioned, I'll turn it over to Chris. Thank you, Alex and members of the commission. Chris McElaine from Penn National Gaming representing Plain Ridge Park Casino. I thought I would start out because I know that a major concern through this whole process has been some certainty on dates. And I know early in the process there was a date put out there, which again, because of the various phases could not be met. And now that as we approach phase three as the chair had indicated, does allow the resumption of casino and horse racing activities, I would like to put out there right now that barring any changes in any of the language or I guess guidelines put out by the governor's office. We are making preparations to conduct qualifying races on June 29th and July 2nd with the intention to have our first live paramutual race on Monday, July 6th. So we are targeting those dates and those activities. We're putting all our plans in motion to hit those targets. Again, assuming no changes in any of the requirements under the governor's guidelines. And again, I think that will give everybody, the horsemen, the track, the commission, targets to hit and to be prepared for. The qualifying races will give us an opportunity to run through the initial protocols that we have in place to make sure that, A, they're achievable and if we need to make any adjustments. So they're a good dry run for those protocols. And also obviously we'll give an opportunity for those horses to have a racing or charted line as they call it for their performance and for their activity. We also think that that's a good sign for the betting public to have a recent past performance line for the horses. So they have more confidence in betting on the condition of the horses that it will be racing. And we think that that is following similar protocols that are in place at other locations with having qualifying races before the start of live racing. So we're happy to put that information out. Hopefully that clears up or gives some clarity as to what the plans are for racing to resume at Plain Ridge Park. It's obviously been a long time coming, but we think that we now have a target to shoot for everyone does now. And we're gonna move towards hitting those targets for the resumption of live racing. Before we go on to the protocols, perhaps we should just address the dates. I think I did hear you say, Chris, that they were subject to the governor's, any shifting in starting the anticipated start date for the phase three. Is it fair to presume that that if the phase three were to commence in mid-July, the spacing or the expectation for the start dates would remain the same? In other words, if it were July 13th, let's begin a phase three, would they begin the qualifying race on that same date if set the goal the same case? And then two days later or a few days later have the next qualifying race. In terms of, I just want to make sure that the expectation would be if the phase three can't begin on July, on June 29th, would the qualifying races be able to start at the same cadence that you've described this morning? Just on the later date, if the governor were to say phase three starts later? If the phase three had the limitation that racing could not take place at that time, then yes, we would follow that guidance and we can shift those dates if necessary. Our hope is that obviously the governor will not have any changes to the protocols or to the allowing of live racing, but yes. Yes, to be clear, it would only be the change would be driven by public health metrics. That's what I'm saying. Should there be any change in the start date? Because I believe there hasn't really been a firm date given to the beginning of phase three. We have surmised. So that was my only question was, in other words, your intent is to, regardless of the actual designated opening day of phase three to begin the qualifying races right at the same time. Is that fair? That would be correct. Great. And Mr. Anthony, are you good with that? Yeah. So first of all, Farni Kazanachi, representative for the horsemen and women. Good morning. Thank everybody on the commission for allowing us to seat at the stable and letting our voice be heard. It's, and I must say that the horsemen and women have been greatly harmed, like many of us in this pandemic, but the uncertainty and the anxiety that came along with all of that along with all the financial distress and emotional distress they've had has really exacerbated the issue. And I think from what I just heard from Mr. McElaine and Penn, this is gonna go a long way with our community in alleviating some of the unneeded stresses in our lives to understand what they can be shooting for with the understanding, as the chair has pointed out, that it's all based on the date being released by the governor's administration. But I think to understand that there's a commitment now to get support and hopefully the support of the commission to get us up and racing as soon as possible. People can feel a heck of a lot better about things. So we fully support that plan as laid out in the racing at the earliest point possible. Great. Commissioner Cameron and other commissioners, would you like to chime in at this point before we go into the protocols? I just, the plan is solid. I agree with that. I've had a chance to discuss it with Dr. Lightbaum and also some of the safety issues around qualifying. I didn't know if Dr. Lightbaum wanted to take this opportunity to add to the importance of that. I think we can discuss the qualifying race a little bit later as we go through the plan. But the good news, it sounds like everybody understands that there would be qualifying races at the beginning before the paramedical starts up. So I think that you're absolutely right. There are issues around that. So other comments, commissioners, on just sort of the idea of the start. Yeah, for me, I think it's understood that the activities start whenever it's safe and directed by the governor and it starts with the qualifying races. That's great to know. I had a question about those qualifying races and prior years, which I know have been one of the, we had received some correspondence to that effect. So if we're gonna talk about that later, I'll hold my question for you. I think that's right. I think we'll get right into the protocols, the guidelines first in accordance with our agenda because the qualifying race just comes up a little bit later. Okay. Okay. Anyone else? Okay, Chris, do you wanna go through the, discussing the protocol or did you have other comments you wanted to address? No, I'm not sure if Dr. Lightbaum wanted to do the protocol or... Well, how would you like to proceed in terms of just maybe the highlights, Alex? Some as we walk through, there's submission from both Plain Ridge Park Casino, Penn National, as well as from the Harness Horsemen's Association. I believe that you have collaborated on these, Alex, is it fair to say that there's general agreement with the proposal presented by PPC? Yes, as you are aware, the Harness Horsemen submitted a plan early on and a lot of those guidelines that were in that plan are incorporated in the Penn plan for Plain Ridge Park. And on our meeting last Friday, the horsemen said they agreed with the protocols that Penn has put out there in their plan. So I think everybody's on board right now with that plan. Can you walk us through the highlights? Does that make sense? So the main thing is the key issues are the social distancing, the disinfecting, and how that goes into a business like the racing business. The general thing is everybody wears a mask at all times, doing the social distancing, restrictions on the people that can come onto the grounds. For now, we won't have owners on the grounds. It'll just be the people that are directly involved in the racing, such as trainers, drivers, rooms, the official staff, the maintenance staff, and that type of people. We're going to restrict access to the racing office, the white building, so-called. So anything that takes place in there, such as horses being entered or talking to the judges and licensing will be done electronically to the best of abilities. We're still working on the guidelines for the licensing because our system just doesn't allow for online licensing. And we've discussed various ways of doing it, including postponing payment of licenses or letting licenses be granted through the end of the year if they already had been licensed last year, different things like that. And going back to that, I think probably the easiest thing for us in all of these different areas is to keep things as much like we have done things in the past as we can, but still bring these COVID plans into place. So we'll probably end up just putting, having a lockbox outside of our office that people can deposit their applications into along with their payment. And obviously we'd strongly recommend people mailing them in. They can fax their applications in as well. They'd still have to turn in the money. Things like- Let me just break there. Commissioner Cameron and others, in terms of the piece on licensing because that is Dr. Leibhahn, that is strictly measures that we would impose correct if we want to work with the others, but should we mark this up for another date because we do need to give firm guidance on that? Do you agree? I agree. In fact, I was just going to ask the question to Dr. Leibhahn if in fact, if we make some kind of an amendment, does that require a regulation change that we could do by emergency basis? If that's the case, Dr. Leibhahn, do you- Or Mr. Grossman? Or Mr. Grossman to help out with that. You're right. Yeah, it would require a regulation change. So I do think once there's a firm decision here, we can have, as the chair mentioned, put it on the agenda quickly for an emergency rate change. Yeah. And just as an aside, I have had talks with our legal department on some of our other protocols and we may end up having to bring those to the commission for some leniency or switching on those items. I'm just getting back to the plan, Mr. Grossman. Well, I'm sorry, Director Leibhahn. I was just going to add, just to refine the point a little bit, I think we could actually just engage in a waiver variance process. We don't necessarily need to change the regulations. So the commission will likely have the ability to be a little bit more nimble when it comes to the licensing process potentially. And as Director Leibhahn mentioned, there's a few other things that may come up procedurally that may require the commission's attention as well that we are looking at and she'll get into maybe some of those as we move forward. But we think it's entirely possible for the commission to be able to address all these fairly quickly. And via a waiver as opposed to a rate change. That's... Absolutely. A variance, yeah. Yes. Okay, excellent. So as you note, those matters, Alex, to the extent that we need to just make sure that we are aware of our work, we can focus on the protocols for Penn National and PPC and Horseman's Association. So that's excellent. Chris, would you? Yeah, I'm sorry about chair. I can go through kind of a quick overview of the items that as Alex had indicated. I mean, the keys that we're looking at. And again, we have several race tracks that are now racing under some similar protocols. We just opened our harness track in Western Pennsylvania. The Meadows this past week, which has harness racing. And some of these protocols are similar. I think one unique thing with Plain Ridge, we have a barn area there, which were normally the way the races flow. We have seven races at one time in our paddock. Obviously for social distancing and other concerns, we're not gonna have that many races at one time in the paddock, probably three at four at the most. So they'll be spaced out. So we'll have to utilize more of the barn area, which will arrange stalls according to how many horses a trainer has. As Alex mentioned, we will try to limit as much as possible the individuals who are allowed in the backstretch area to only essential personnel. And in terms of the number of horsemen and grooms with each horse, limiting that based on the number of horses they have entered, everyone coming through will come through a centralized area, will be temperature checked, face mask, as Alex mentioned, will be required of all individuals while they're in the backstretch area. Social distancing as much as we can possibly do. We will close our lounge area for the drivers to eliminate congregation areas. We're encouraging obviously people to, whether preventing be outside as much as possible. We're asking our side and the horsemen side obviously taking responsibility for their respective workers in making sure they're well-versed on COVID issues and sanitizing and having the proper materials. We will be supplying sanitizing agents and things like that in a lot of the common areas. And again, the main basics really come down to the social distancing, face mask, temperature checks, and limiting the number of individuals in the respective areas. We're gonna learn some things, hopefully when we get to the qualifiers and we know logistically or we have a theory as to how things should flow. I'm sure once we get into practice, there'll be some alterations. As I mentioned, our track just opened in Pittsburgh. We had a plan for the paddock and after one day of racing, we've gone back and reformulated that based on the experiences that we had. So it's a fluid document, but we think in terms of a game plan, again, these are very similar items that are being done at other racetracks around the country. And we think that they're achievable. They will serve the purpose of what's necessary for proper health of the individuals that are competing in the races and will allow us to conduct live racing in a safe and sustainable manner. Should we pause just now for questions at this juncture and then move on? Commissioner Zinigai. Yeah, I have a question. Is there any indication of Grace or Alex or anybody that the horses themselves can be either carriers or a source of communication of the virus where all of these, some of these measures need to extend to them? Or are we only talking about, we're mostly talking about humans, human distancing? Yeah, there's no indication that it's transmitted by horses. And we have biosecurity measures in place for the horses that we've been doing for years as far as things like disinfecting the tie chains between races, washing, and disinfecting water buckets and that type of thing that both MGC and PPC have been doing. So that kind of, those kind of methods are already familiar to us. So it makes adding the type of protocols onto the human population a little bit easier for us since we've already done it on the horse side. Other questions? Thank you. Madam Chair. Yes. Commissioner O'Brien first. Thank you. I had two, one specific to this, one is a more general question. I would be interested if whatever the timeline is in terms of the first qualifying race day, I would really love for the commissioners to be it maybe two by twos and a one on one with Alex to get an update on how it went. So to the extent that I know you've done it before you probably don't anticipate drastic changes after doing the qualifying races, but I would be interested to get an update on how that first day goes so that if there's some reason we need to readjust what we're talking about today, we'd have the most lead time to do it. Yes, and that's an advantage of having the qualifiers about a week before the opening day is that we'll be able to use them as a dry run and see if anything needs to be adjusted. So we'll absolutely come back to the commission and let them know how it went. And I think we should plan on that as a group. Thanks. Thank you. And then the only other question I had, I know that governor's advisory board is working on casino specific recommendations and guidelines. Does anyone know whether they are also working on racing guidelines or not? I think we can anticipate for every industry their intention is to provide some level of guidance. I can't say that I've heard affirmatively that there will be, I don't know, Mr. Antonacci. I'm butchering your name this morning. And to note, help me out, Frank. Antonacci. Again. Antonacci. Antonacci, Antonacci. I was adding my own French into that. I'm sorry. Have you heard that there will be industry standards? That really is, they have given that general guidance that we should anticipate for every industry some kind of specific guidance. You heard the same, Frank. I think so. I'm not sure exactly how specific it will be for the racing industry or if they're gonna. To your point, I think Commissioner O'Brien, I think everybody recognizes that there could be additional standards on top of any that we agree on and that the two, the industry agrees on with PPC. Could I, I think if Commissioner O'Brien does not answer your question. Yes, it does. Thank you. All right, and then Commissioner Stebbins, you had a question? Yeah, just a quick one for Chris that we've been addressing with our gaming licensees and that's the supply chain or availability of cleaning materials. I know Lance talked about it, as it relates to the casino side. Do you see any issues getting what you need for the racing side of the house, Chris? I'm not aware of any or been made aware of any issues. Again, obviously the casino supplies everything for the racing side as well, but it's centralized, same purchasing and everything along those lines. So we're not anticipating any issues, but I will follow up if there is any concerns on that, but I'm not aware of anything at this point. And I might hold this question, but I'll put it in the back burner, which is, and you talk about it a little bit, which is a communications plan. So at the right point, I'd like to hear more about how you and perhaps the association plan on communicating some of these guidelines to drivers or sandalers, everybody that we need to worry about. If I could just then inject my question before we turn to the communications plan, could you explain in a little bit more detail how you anticipate helping to achieve the six foot social distancing standard? Is it will you be using arrows? I'm trying to imagine how the navigation of the horses are let out and the stable it's how close they are. If you could just go through that a little bit, please. Sure. Well, again, a lot of the barn area is outdoors. So we will have physical signage in certain areas, but we're putting stuff outside, obviously, you're on the risk of weather and things like that. So from the layout of the barn area, we are depending on the number of horses that we have. As I mentioned, we're gonna try to group trainers together. If they have multiple horses and leave spaces in between, if it's trainer, you know, right, get the Nazi and then he has three horses, maybe leave one or two stalls open and have other horses in the stalls next to him. We will, in the paddock area, we will put some, much like the casino has in terms of lines or ways of spacing out where people can be or stand in certain areas from that standpoint. So, and a lot of it is self-policing too. You know, we need people to obviously help us in terms of, you know, maintaining those distances. We do have security in the backstretch area. We have racing officials, you know, they will certainly be looking and enforcing those rules as well from that standpoint. And if I could just add to that, just to provide a little detail, you know, a stall is where a horse is kind of housed is. Yeah, thank you. By, it's, I believe the dimensions of those stalls at Plain Ridge Park is 10 feet by 10 feet, might even be 12 by 10, some of them. Thank you. So, that would help. That would help that. And for anybody that's been around a horse, if you're handling a horse, it would be advised that everybody stay well beyond six feet away from that horse. You don't want to get kicked. You don't want to get reared up on. So just safe handling protocols of a horseman lends itself to social distancing, just for normal everyday safety. So indicators that horses are smarter than us. They've been smarter than us for a long time, correct? Yeah, so that is a really good point, but it was really helpful for me to think about that the stalls are that large and the individuals who come with each horse, the essential personnel, they will be clustering in that area together because they come as a group. And the group will never exceed right now probably more than six, correct, Alex? That's essential personnel. I think right now the guidance out of the governor's office is six. Is that correct, Commissioner O'Brien? Yeah, she's nodding her head. So that actually aligns with the guidance that we see right now coming out of the other industries that up to six people could be associated with a particular horse in that space. Thank you, the dimensions really helped. I have a question. Is there for Chris or again, Alex, do you anticipate that the size of the field might be constrained by some way because of all the measures that you take? A number of horses that are available for engracing. We're not anticipating. We think we have adequate space in the backstretch area. Again, the entire backstretch area now, which consists I think of three or four barns and I think we have about 150 or 160 stalls. That whole area is gonna be sort of our, it's gonna be an enlarge paddock for lack of a better term. And so we have space, again, we're not gonna try to jam, you know, fill every one of those stalls. But last year I think we averaged right around 10 races a day, a little bit over 10 average field size around seven. So you're talking 70, 80, maybe 90 horses at the most on a given day, which we think is achievable in terms of spacing and things like that. So we wouldn't see any reason to necessarily restrict the field sizes or anything along those lines. It's really gonna be dependent on horse availability, which I think people know. There's a lot of competition for horses in the region as tracks start up. A general horse population has been declining, but I don't see where we're gonna be limiting at this point number of races or number of horses because of this. Thank you. Other questions so far before we continue on the guidelines. Chris, do you wanna continue then? Sure, I think again, as I mentioned, the area that we're utilizing, and again, for those who have been to Plain Ridge is really our entire footprint of our backstretch area. So normally we have several barns where horses may have stabled there for the entire season. Because of this change in our protocols, we won't be having any permanent stabbling this year on the grounds. Everything will be considered what we call ship in barns or people ship in the day of the race and ship out afterwards. Only horses that are approved by the racing secretary and entered to race will be permitted on the grounds. We're gonna have designated parking areas for the individuals shipping in. As I mentioned, we'll be assigning stalls, specifically to group people together. And we will be limiting the number of individuals coming in with each horse. The sanitizing of the areas in the stalls and in the paddock. Alex, the administration of Lasix, which is a legal medication, will be handled the same way it has been in terms of a specific area for the commission. And Alex can specify anything with the testing that may come in the play. The horses in terms of warming up, normally when they're in the paddock area, prior to the race, they go out on the track and warm up. Again, logistically, that'll still be the same. It's just they'll probably have a different egress and ingress area through the barn area. So again, that's where we're getting into more the logistics from that standpoint, but we don't see any particular issues there. As I mentioned, we're closing down in the paddock. We have a lounge area where people will congregate and there might be some food offerings there. We're closing that down. The locker room area will not be utilized other than for bathroom facilities. Everything from our racing office, we're gonna limit individuals being able to physically come in the racing office. All our entries will be done online. All communications with horsemen will be done either via phone or via computer. We do have a text messaging system set up for horsemen. You would ask about, you know, from a communication side. So that's very effective in getting information out to individuals and up-to-date information. We'll also have key people that will be assigned from our side. We'll set up with the horsemen and the commission that'll kind of be the key people on the ground, race day, that if any issues come up, they'll be the ones to handle those situations. And really, again, I think the main issue is just limiting access to the backstretch area. So we don't have a lot of people in general back there, face masks, social distancing, and sanitizing of the areas on a frequent basis. It's kind of a simple formula, but something that obviously we gotta keep up with. Why don't we pause now then to just ask commissioners questions? Commissioner O'Brien, do you have a question? I did. In terms of the last entry on the ship in barn area, it puts the responsibility on the horsemen to thoroughly clean their assigned stall prior to leaving. Is there any sort of affirmative attestation process, either a sheet they check out at initial or something online where they text that they've done it just so that no one leaves and hasn't forgotten that? Is there like another way to just put another check in there? Well, right now we don't have a check-off system or anything along those lines. We obviously know who was assigned the specific stalls for each day. So if there is any issues with any individuals, we know who to follow up with from that standpoint. But we can certainly look at whether there's any other system to look at from that standpoint as well. Could I just tell you? So that people can't, I mean, you're supposed to do it in the gym anyway. And sometimes people just legitimately forget as they're packing up and leaving. So could I just, if you could point, it's at the bottom of which... It's the paragraph leading into the section that says race paddock. It's the last paragraph for the ship in barn area section. Yeah, they're all alphabetized. No, maybe I'm in the alphabet area, sorry. So I think what you're saying is that it would be nice to have them have to affirm that they've done the cleaning. I suspect that for a horse stall, it seems apparent if it's been cleaned or not because of what the horse might leave. But I think to Commissioner O'Brien's point is that given the risks, it would be nice to say this has been fully cleansed in a way that may go beyond what is typically done to address the horse, but also to address people. And maybe you can talk about the text messaging system. Maybe there's some way that they can respond back even to some text or something that says that they've done it, just sort of a checklist on the way out the door. Okay, first, oh, I'm sorry. Commissioner Stevens, did you want to follow up on your communications plan question? Yeah, this is a question from that same section of the report, the ship in the barn area. And maybe it's just on my version, but talking about when horses will be required to arrive, it looks like there's a number still there to be filled in. Maybe I just have an old copy. Yeah, that's some, we're still working on that. For the administration, for the likes of the horses have to be there four hours in advance. At least we're just working out whether there needs to be a staggering of times or things like that. But normally, depending, horses will usually arrive somewhere between four and five hours before the race. Frank could get a little bit more insight there, but that's a number we do have to plug in there. I had a follow up question about that. And I know we have left it for the MGC to talk more about pre and post-testing. I just wanted to know from Dr. Leipholm's perspective if he is anticipating any changes with regard to that. Again, we'll probably try to keep it as similar to what we normally do as possible. And I've talked to the legal team about people signing evidence cards and things like that. And it seems like the best thing from a legal standpoint is still to get that wet signature. So we'll do, some jurisdictions are doing like the splash guard and the evidence card is slipped under the splash guard and signed and we'll probably recommend that people bring their own pens, but we'll have pens available and leave them in a disinfectant solution, something along those lines. Yeah, okay. It just seems to me following up on communications that this training mechanism for both our staff and the participants will be a key factor here to make sure everybody's really clear on the protocols. And this is something a little bit different, right? Bring your own pen. So just getting that training, I think will be an important piece. Yes. I think that's really important to make sure that the employees, everyone involved in these races are afforded the same precautions that we expect to be given to the employees and patrons at the casinos. And one of the concerns I have is just in terms of sanitization. I know that the buildings are very different than a casino building, but I do know that the restrooms are only gonna be cleaned once a day and I think it might warrant more than once a day. I think something goes in the lines of every four hours or something that we can draw from, I'm sure the guidelines of the governor's office is issuing on that because I believe that these essential personnel who are going to wanna use the restrooms and we need to make sure that they're cleaned from any potential spread of the virus should one person be infected. And then we should also make sure that the hand sanitizer is readily available. People will be having masks, but they will be interacting as although, you know, there'll be social distancing that will be achieved and everybody knows there, it will still be relatively close quarters. So I wondered if there'll be hand sanitizers attached, you know, on every other stall or at the end of the beginning of the entry and the exit, there's just always an ability to wash your hands. Any thoughts on that? Just to up it a little bit more in the lines of what we're doing for the casinos. Yeah, we are planning in a lot of the common areas to have extra sanitizing stations and things like that. We are also encouraging the horsemen as well to be prepared from their side, again with their employees and themselves to, you know, whether it's PPE or sanitizing, things like that to, you know, come prepared from that because they are there for a long period of time and will be certainly interacting. So we are covering all the kind of central common areas, so to speak, that the availability for things like that will be in there as well. And I can interject here too, that for Mr. McHugh, for your association important messaging, and I know that Commissioner Stevens is gonna wanna follow up on this, it's really important for, you know, these individuals who will be working together over the course of the racing season so closely that they take every precaution in their personal life to, you know, socially distance so that their bubble is limited so that we can be assured of a safe and sustainable racing season. And I'm sure you can help on your messaging through the association to remind all of the participants of to be really careful of their own personal interactions. I think, you know, on behalf of the association, we've been pretty proactive throughout this and I think today was an important step to get some clarity around the dates because I would anticipate an active communication plan starting even this afternoon on what the horseman and women can anticipate, what will be expected, and then how that's gonna be achieved. So I think the one advantage that we have amongst others is that we do have, it's a regulated body of people. So we know exactly who will be entering and exiting the facility in all times. And with that, we have all their contacts, we have all that information. So we have that added advantage that well before this June 29th date, we can have active communication with them. And as things change, if we get further guidance from the governor's advisory group, we'll be able to act quickly in many ways quicker than other populations. I would anticipate us doing that. We've actively and proactively secured our own additional PPE. I think we would anticipate and we would ask our horsemen and women to come prepared with their own sanitizer and masks. However, we have I think about a thousand masks, mix of cloth and disposable on hand that we will augment any supplies of the track may have. This way we don't run into a situation where somebody forgets a mask at home and we end up with an issue. So hearing what you're all saying about active communication, we couldn't agree more and very happy with the clarity coming from this meeting that we could start that plan. Commissioner Stevens, do you wanna add in on that and all in terms of channels for communication? Yeah, no, that sounds great. I'm glad both the association and the track and we're doing some more in this point. I like the idea of, you know, as commissioner Cameron or commissioner O'Brien pointed out somehow using the text messaging system. Yeah, I was just reminded, look at some, looking at some of the information and actual links to videos to deal with everything from how to put on PPE to how to discard PPE. You know, maybe there's an opportunity to just kind of help educate folks along by showing them what the new process might look like instead of in a written form, doing it maybe in a video form, if that's possible. I'd leave that up to everybody. Maybe to that point and to follow up on commissioner O'Brien's point is have you thought about the training aspect in more detail, Professor Alex? I know we're saying that training should take place but is there a plan already underway for that? Okay. Yeah, so obviously we'll be putting up signage and the HHA NE has already, from what I understand, has already posted some of the ways, things like how to put on your mask and take it off, things like that. I can also forward them the different videos that our HR department has asked all of our folks to look at and take. And that's something that I can also forward to Chris for language as well, if they wanna use those different videos that talk about how to use your PPE and that type of thing. And obviously any employees on the racing side are subject to the same training and any of the procedures being put in place for Plain Ridge Park employees in general, whether at the casino or the racing side, they'll be subject to that same training and information dissemination as well. So the employees on the racing side will be getting similar information and training as the casino employees will as well. And Alex, maybe you might wanna elaborate on the commission's employees and the CISO employees and employees like yourself. Cause I know that Derek and the reopening working group has been working on the provisions for your staff there. Yes, Derek was nice enough to come down last week with a bunch of supplies for us. And I set the office up with the posters that Trupade had printed out on. Social distancing and disinfecting and all so that our white building is ready for business basically. And Bill Egan, our licensing specialist started down there yesterday. So the office is, as we've said in the plan, the office itself is closed to people coming in other than those actually working in the building. But Bill is in there now to start getting licenses by mail and answering the phone if anybody has any licensing questions and that type of thing. And so that's excellent. And so in terms of, let's say for the testing that takes place, that's pretty close quarters in that area. Yes. Will you be able to achieve the distancing that you need to achieve in order to administer that process, Alex? Or do we need to rethink that? Well, we are going to have to have certain things in place. For one thing, we'll do kind of like what we did with the white building, where we won't normally the trainer or their representative would come into the office to sign the evidence card, along with our veterinary assistant. And usually several of our veterinary assistants would help seal the samples to make things go quicker. But that office is very small and it also has the test mark coordinator in there who does all the paperwork and all. So we'll basically make it off limits to everybody except for the coordinator and the veterinary assistant who is sealing the sample. And the trainer's representative will be able to stand at the door and still watch the sample being sealed and everything. So we won't lose that. So you can get two people in there comfortably. Do we need to think about any plexiglass protections? Commissioners, I just want to make sure we're really thinking affirmatively here, in terms of where there really is a service being conducted, as I see you leaning in, where it's more face-to-face service, where the... Yeah, I know we dropped masks and stuff off. Are there any of those shields to be used on? Yeah, we have shields and masks. And there's been some talk, for instance, with the veterinarians because that's very close contact. The trainer or their representative will have to hold the horse for the blood draw. But kind of like what Frank was saying with the horses earlier, the handler will stand on the opposite side of the horse from where the veterinarian's standing. So there will be the body of a horse in between them. And unless the horse is very fractious or something that should act as a good barrier. And we're going to leave it up to the veterinarians as to whether they want to use the face shields or not, or just use the face mask. We're not sure how the horses will respond to the face shields. That's interesting. So there are different things to consider. So those are a couple of the different things we're thinking of as far as that goes. And just so I'm clear, I was thinking, Commissioner Cameron, help me think this out. Are there any places physically where we have services interaction, where, for instance, the licensing and where Bill would normally work, do we need to have install any plexiglass to protect that where the people are interacting because of the administrative? Well, I believe Dr. Lightbaum, please correct me if I didn't hear you correctly. But yeah, I think that we're talking about leaving those applications outside, not entering the building. So I'm right. And I knew that, there's no any exception. Okay. Yeah, we are going to ask PPC to put a plexiglass partition up for part of Bill's opening into the entryway there. There will be, for instance, a new person who has never been licensed with us, they will need to step into the office, briefly pull their mask down, get their picture taken. Things like that. So we are going to have plexiglass there. And in the commission office, I believe the big window we have in the test barn is plexiglass. So we're still working on the details, but we may end up putting a little cut out in there where the evidence card can be pushed out for the signature. And in case I also didn't, I might have missed it. I thought there might be a few exceptions for Bill. So that's good. And then if I remember correctly where the blood is, the two staff people who are dealing, the veterinarians who are dealing with the testing, there's open space, there's a shelving there, or is there a glass there because of the blood samples anyways? There are already some protection there. Right, there's also that open window. And certainly there's different seating in that test area for our people if they're right in between getting samples that they can sit down. And we're certainly gonna have to, for instance, there's a bench, and we'll mark that bench so that it's six feet. And so we don't have people sitting closer than that. But there is some kind of a barrier now already. There's a barrier for the office. Yeah. Okay, good, thank you. I actually, I had a follow up question from yours, Chair. The only other place that I can think of is the official booth, which is a small quarters. Anything, I mean, it's usually the same people, but is there anything that you're contemplating, Alex, for that space? Yes, we've had discussions and that space is probably too small for three people with the social distancing. So what the idea that we're considering is there's a small office right next door where the announcer is, and they can possibly move the announcer to a different location. And so one of the judges can stand in that room right next to the judge's stand. And they'll have the same view of the track as they would in the judge's stand. And then if anything happens in the race and they need to look at the videos, they can, one of the judges, yeah, they can cycle in and out. So I think we've got that handled as well. Is that open air also or those all closed windows? It's closed. I think Commissioner O'Brien, we weren't sure of that. So they are closed windows, okay. Alex, quick question for you. Obviously you have a very talented team with specific skills. What kind of becomes your backup strategy if a few individuals aren't feeling well and have to call out? So that's something that we've had discussions with in our groups with the horsemen and with Plain Ridge. All of us are dealing with small staffs. The horsemen have short staffs. So if one of the people in their bubble group gets ill, it's gonna affect them all. And same with PPC, they have a small staff and we do too. Everybody's got, I can't think of the word right now, but people, oh, cross-trained. We've got lots of cross training so that we do have people that can sub in and out. And obviously we do that on a regular basis if somebody's out sick for a day or two. If people have to go out for 14 days and it affects multiple people in our staff, that will be difficult. And we've all discussed that, that it's really important that the horsemen, the PPC folks and our folks all really adhere to all these protocols and to do the best we can not to have anybody down there come down with it. And on our end, we're talking about certain things like for instance, with veterinarians. Usually we swap out the veterinary assistants and they do different jobs during the week. And so they may be with one veterinarian one day and with another one the next day. At least for now we'll probably assign them to a specific job title. So one will always go with a blood gas veterinarian and then maybe the others will stay with the Lasix veterinarian and then the others in the test barn. And that way hopefully if somebody does get sick we'll eliminate how many people are in that group that have possibly been exposed. You have a, I know we've had a backup plan when we've missed a judge is that same kind of protocol in place? Yes, we do have a couple of fill-in judges that we can have join us. So we do, like I said, we do have some backups and we have people that are cross trained. Okay, that's good to hear. Thank you, Alex. Just a pause for technically I understand that there's some background noise. So to the extent that you have background noise if you could mute until you speak, that would be great. I think it's just interfering a little bit with the video. So thank you. Following up on any other questions, I know I had one just slipped my mind. Oh, I know, following up on Commissioner Stevens on illness. I may have missed this provision. So forgive me if I did, but I think it's quite standardized out of the governor's guidance that in the steps you need to take in the event someone does test positive for COVID-19, I think it's an alert Chris, you would reflect exactly what's in the casino guidelines. There needs to be outreach to the local public health commission and then that, I think we also would expect to be notified not necessarily of the details of who, but that there has been an outbreak. And most importantly, that we know all the steps have been taken. And so for the casinos, there was a designation, the expected designation of a pandemic security officer. I believe we wanna take that kind of a protocol here with respect to racetrack so that one person is accountable for ensuring the proper notice to the local health department. But those provisions we can make available, it's standardized across the industries for the guidance out of the governor's office. That way they can do their contact tracing and as Frank already noted, it, you know, this is quite a close community. So you really do know who will be there. So that will be really helpful, but we wanna make sure we have those protocols in place. Other comments and questions for Chris and Alex, Mr. McHugh at this time. I don't think that this is an even, we haven't even marked this up for a formal adoption. This really is for just to lay out discussion, correct Alex, that was the goal for today with respect to these matters. Yes. I think that I don't want to disrupt the conversation because I wanna make sure we've covered all the points. Commissioner Cameron, is there anything that you think that we need to address with respect to the safety guidelines? I know you asked for them first and we knew they were becoming, they were accelerated a bit because of the shift from phase four to phase three. At this juncture, we have a solid draft. Do we individually chew on this some more and then Alex maybe incorporate some of the feedback you've received so far and then mark this up for a more formal adoption down the road. We may also receive some additional guidance from the governor's office if they are able to share or if they have thoughts, we don't know yet what will happen in terms of timing with them. Always, they will be subject to whatever further restriction or overlay the administration adds because the public health will trump any of our industry interests. Madam Chair, I certainly appreciate the fact that all of the groups have worked together and that there is a consensus about best practices here and any questions I've asked even prior to this, they've been thoughtful about looking at that matter. I would ask that Chris, if there are some lessons learned in the next week or so from your other jurisdictions, you mentioned one, you had a change of plan already. I think you were talking about something site-specific in that location, the Pennsylvania harness track that you opened but I would certainly anticipate that you would be in touch with Dr. Lightbaum and if there is something that we need to change because of what you've learned elsewhere that would be helpful in making sure we do it, do this is, you know, with safety in mind and every consideration before we open in a couple of weeks. Certainly, Commissioner, and as we said, I think the document we go in with probably will have some adjustments as we learn. The qualifying races, as we've mentioned before, are a good test run to make sure that, you know, what we think is the right thing to do is actually in practice follow us through that way. So, yeah, we certainly will adjust this as we see necessary, get feedback from everyone and keep communicating the updates. Commissioner Ziniga, did you have a comment, question? No, no, just on the qualifying races, as I mentioned earlier. Okay, I just, I couldn't tell if you were leaning in, I just wanted to make sure. Thank you. Other Commissioner comments? So, yeah, I think, correct me, commissioners, if I'm wrong, but the next steps would be, we do want to review the final, correct, and either adopt them as our endorse, endorse them if they're all in agreement and we are in agreement, we couldn't give our endorsement. Is that what we're imagining? It's that they become endorsed or adopted by us as well, that we do need to take a formal action. Commissioner Kimmer, I see you shaking your head. I think that makes sense. Yeah. Okay, so... Yes, I think it does, especially if it requires a waiver as we were talking about. Well, and that's just the pieces, if it were just the pieces that PPC, Penn National and the harness horsemen were taking, then I still think we'd want to endorse. We have some work to do on our own pieces, it looks like. And so I want to be really cognizant of time, we want to make sure that we are all aligned to make sure that our work is all in place to ensure that there's no delay. So we will carefully look at our schedule, but I'm thinking, Alex, we have this Thursday, probably too soon, because we wouldn't be able to mark it up, but we do have next week, we have an agenda-setting meeting on Wednesday and we have a special meeting, really dedicated to community mitigation, but there might be an opportunity to act on this. I don't know if Karen, you're available, I know that she's right now, not on video. If that, because that would be the 25th, correct? The next meeting, yes, that's correct. If that might make sense to at least anticipate the final action on these against object whatever comes out of the state. And of course, always the federal government and local government. Commissioner Bryant, you're shaking your head, that seems like to go any further won't be helpful. The good news is I don't see anything in these guidelines that requires significant runway. In other words, you've made a lot of the PPE purchases, so that wasn't new to you. But the one thing we will talk about is the preparation of the racetrack alone, but in terms of these safety guidelines, I don't see anything that requires us to act on so that you know it's an affirmative requirement. It takes a few weeks, everything is pretty much set to go, correct? Right, sorry. Yes, it's okay at the same time. No, I mean, I'm looking at everybody, so it's a little bit of the Brady Bunch challenge. Karen, so why don't we think about that timing? Okay. Commissioner Cameron, you agree? Yeah, I think that is if the governor's opening, reopening allows for the 29th to be the first day of qualifying, I think that would be important to get it done before that. Yeah, if maybe we could even go earlier, you know, we could always call a meeting. Yes. But we want to mark it up properly. So let's just make sure we get to the work that we need to be, if we need to have a special meeting to just tend to the variances, we could call that Todd. So let's look at that and assess that need. All right, thank you. Now moving on to some of the other matters that are just associated with opening. And before we get to the items on the agenda that require particular attention, I wondered if you could just update us, Chris, on the race track alone and what's necessary for it to be prepared for safe racing. Sure. Well, we do have, we're calling back our crews now. We did have furloughs for a long period of time so we did it on the casino side because of the closure of the casino. We're in the process of calling individuals back now that are beginning to work both in the barn area for cleanup and any repairs necessary back there and the track surface, which we did have some work done over the shutdown. So we're not completely starting at ground zero. I think we're far enough along where right now we can, in a fairly quick timeframe, get the track prepared in a safe manner and have it race ready to hit our target dates, as we said. So we're confident we will get that done and have all those items in place by the dates that we had indicated. And in terms of oversight or any inspection that needs to happen, is that also lined up by an outside party? Does that have, that is that part of the equation? Yes, we're in the process of securing the individual for that. And I believe Steve O'Toole will be coordinating in terms of the date with Alex Lightbaum for that inspection. Usually it happens right around when the qualifiers are starting from that standpoint based on prior years experience. Okay, other questions for Chris? And Alex, if you wanna chime in on that. Yes, Steve's got somebody that in mind that he's lining up. Obviously, we almost got to that point right before the COVID hit. So this has been in the plans for a while. And USTA, the US Trotting Association did come out with rules guiding racetrack maintenance and that type of thing. Steve is a director on the USTA for District 9. He was actually involved in this rulemaking process and he kept being updated as it was going through their process and then when it was adopted. And so they'll be following that protocol. Any questions on just the racetrack? It's integrity. Again, as much as we, as I said, the health and well-being of all current circumstances that's required, but we've always been concerned about the safety of the horses. So we don't want to forget that that's part of our core overview of our site. Okay. Now, before we move to the offer item number 2A and move on to BC and D or any other questions that you'd like to present to folks or is there any other matters that Frank or Mr. McHugh or Mr. Corey would like to raise before we move on to more official business. Chris, if you'd like to add in or Dr. Lightbound. I have just one other item, Madam Chair and not specifically with the live raising. And I think this is a discussion that on Thursday, there's a discussion about simulcasting and I just want to put out there. The current terminology in the phase three for live racing indicates horse racing, simulcasting no spectators, which is kind of contradictory. I think you're well aware, simulcasting, people are physically there watching races on television screens, things like that. And we're really trying our situation with simulcasting is no different than a Suffolk Downs or a Rainham, basically it's the same type of setup, same logistics, same business. The only thing that's different is we're at a racetrack casino facility. They're kind of in a standalone facility, but really it's the same process. We're just looking for clarity or hoping that whatever is given for those locations, Rainham and Suffolk would apply to us as well and the ability to conduct simulcasting in the same way that they're permitted to. And even the conduct of live racing without spectators at this point, there's a good possibility the casino may be opening hopefully on the 29th as well or in that same proximity. If customers are coming to the casino, there'll be a lot of those customers, they have protocols for entrance, people who would be coming to the simulcasting or even live racing would be subject to the same protocols. We feel that really there's no real distinction in terms of limiting people from coming for the racing or the simulcasting at that point. So we're trying to get some clarity, we're trying to get some confirmation that we can at least be on a level playing field from that standpoint. And again, I think we're in a better spot because we'll be adopting the casino protocols for anybody coming in for those things. So if anything, our standards might be higher than what's being done at other places. So wanted to put that out there because that is a revenue source, not only for us, but the horsemen as well for purse money, for the racing commission, for taxes and things like that. So we're hopeful that we can get that clarification or at least be able to be able to conduct the same type of business that the others in the industry are able to at the same time. Yeah, I think that that's a really fair concern. And I know the advisory board has had a big job learning a lot about a lot of different industries over the course of a very short period under the most trying of circumstances. And so first racing is probably, and simulcasting is a bit of a new industry to many. So I think that the request for clarification will be heard. I think those questions are being raised. So what I haven't heard yet, Chris, is that, again, that wouldn't alter any preparation if there were given a guidance today or a little bit later, provided that it's explained by the beginning of phase three, because it would, or are there some opening preparations that would extend if there were further clarification on that to you? No, I mean, the conduct of the qualifying race, if you're saying the conduct of the qualifying races and the live racing being impacted by that, no, we're going forward on that, as long as there's no changes, as we said, in the protocol procedures for specifically for that. But we would be hopeful that if other locations are able to conduct simulcasting, that we'd be able to have that same ability. And if the casino building is open, you know, again, having people for live racing is really no different than having people come to the casino or come for simulcasting. It's, as you said, I think there's maybe some education there that's necessary, but it really shouldn't be extinction. And other racetracks are now opening up with allowing customers on site now, I think, again, under certain provisions and protocols and capacity limits and things like that. I think it's fair to say that clarification needs to be provided. My instinct to assign some practical interpretation of that language would be that the no spectator was the terminology assigned to the horse racing, that there wouldn't be spectators in stands, if you will. We know that there aren't stands at PPC, but if we applied some practical thinking, it would be horse racing without spectators, but simulcasting is permitted with phase three. And simulcasting, what you're really saying is it's not so much spectators, they're actually the betters. They're live people who are going in and they're simulcasting, you're placing your bet at the facility, so at Suffolk Downs, they're placing the bet there. They may be watching horse racing at any other place in the country, but they are not actually spectators of live racing. They're patrons or betters at the facility. In the same with PPC, it would be patrons who are at your simulcasting facility, placing their bet potentially with respect to the live racing that will be going on, but on a day when there's no live racing, they would be placing a bet on racing anywhere million around the world, correct? Yep, you've outlined it correctly there, yes. Yeah, so I think the word spectator should be, and I can't speak for the governor's office, but I'm just saying a pragmatic interpretation of the language would be spectators is associated with people who are tearing on the horse racing. It's associated with spectators in a sports venue where the patrons who are associated with placing a bet for simulcasting would probably be not referred to as ever spectators. It would be betters or patrons. And I think a practical interpretation would be simulcasting opens with phase three, like casinos or horse racing. So if that's helpful, but again, I'm being very careful. I'm giving a pragmatic interpretation of that language based on how I view it. It deserves further clarification and questions have been raised. So we should anticipate some clarification on that. I don't know, Frank, if you want to add in, but that's just my logic. Yeah, I think from the horseman's perspective, we support exactly what Chris is kind of bringing up and I think your interpretation that it's consistent with whatever capacity standards or limits are put on the casino or other simulcasting facilities. Okay, so that's an open issue. We'll stay tuned on that. And I think all parties have a fair interest in understanding exactly where the advisory board and the administration will go with respect to that nuance. Thank you. Anything, I spoke, that was simply my interpretation. I don't know if Commissioner Zuniga or Commissioner Cameron, if you want to chime in, that's just my, I'm not speaking for the commission at all. Commissioner O'Brien, Mr. Stevens. Yes, Marty, Mr. Corey, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to thank you and Commissioner Cameron and Dr. Lightbaum for the work that you've done bringing this round table together this morning. I'm very encouraged by the conversation and the obvious work that you've put together in advancing the relationship and the conversation to put together the plan to get phase three opening of live racing at Plain Ridge Park. And I'm very encouraged by what I hear and wanted to thank you for your efforts. And Dr. Lightbaum, thank you so much for your hard work on this issue. Thank you, Mr. Corey. And before we close, I think we did have Commissioner Zuniga was going to make a comment too. And then just close on this issue. Thank you. I just to agree with your point, Chair, that I guess I imagined the simulcasting to be treated just like the casino and in closed space where you need to have some physical distancing and mask wearing and so on. And that could be accomplished to a number of things, either removing tables or signage and everything. I was not necessarily honing in on the spectating part. As you say, I think it's more about the occupancy and as others have said. Right, and correct me, Chris, but does the space as an extension of the casino, so all the safeguards that are applying to the casino, I think we actually asked this question, would extend out to that beautiful open space that extends to the racetrack, correct? That is correct. The plan, as I understand, for entrance into the casino will be a single entrance, I think through the valet entrance. Racing customers would have to come and somalcast customers would have to come through that same entrance requirements. I believe if there is a temperature check or other screening, racing somalcast customers will go through the same process as the casino customers. We've already set up in the racing areas, plexiglass at the teller windows, removal of about half the chairs and tables in the somalcast area for the social distancing. Same cleaning methods will be done as done on the casino side. So yes, we're treating those areas exactly the same as we would the casino game plan. So again, I think they would be at a probably higher standard maybe some of the other locations are planning at this point just because we have the casino attached to it. Further questions, comments? Mr. Stevens, Commissioner O'Brien, I'll set. I'll set. Okay, and Commissioner Cameron, I'll set for right now. So there's been some focus on the qualifying races. I think it might make sense for us to just bring that up in the agenda. So we'll first focus on to see if that makes sense. So that we understand first off what qualifying races are and what's the request is where we are on this matter. I'll start with Dr. Lightbound. You don't mind me going out of order, correct? No. Okay. Thank you. So just to kind of key these up, the three items that are on here, BC and D, we're all on the commission agenda for our March 12th meeting. And that meeting was the one that was canceled halfway through due to the COVID. So these items didn't get acted on at that time and now it's the appropriate time to bring them forward again. So item C, the request from Plain Ridge Park for a waiver of 205-CMR 312. Seven is the qualifying race requirement. The commission has had this in front of them for the last several years. Right in the rule, it does say that the association with just Plain Ridge can ask for a waiver of this. And the commission has granted this request from 30 days to 45 days. And so in harness racing, if a horse hasn't raced for a certain number of days, they need to go into a qualifying race. A qualifying race has no purse and it has no betting. And what it does is it will give the horse an official line that'll go into the program. It allows the association veterinarian to make sure the horses are fit and sound. And as Chris mentioned earlier, it also helps give the better an idea on what the form of the horse is at that point. So I'm very comfortable with moving it from the 30 days to the 45 days. Commissioner Cameron. Yeah, Dr. Leipam, I know there was some request to not use the qualifying process at all. Now, I know we've talked about that and you were explaining to me from a safety standpoint how that would not be appropriate. Could you just elaborate on that please? Yes, as I stated, it gives a chance to make sure that the horses, in order to qualify out of that race to go on to a paramutual race, there's a certain time that they have to go in in the race. So again, it is a safety issue to make sure the horses fit and to make sure they're sound. Give the horse a way of going around the track ahead of time before they're in an actual race. So, and I believe that at this point the harness horseman's association is on board with this request to move it from the 30 days to 45 days. And the two days that was outlined earlier, whatever the timing of those two days, that's enough time to appropriately get those horses qualified? Yes, most of these horses race once a week. So the horses that qualify, if it falls under the governor's guidelines for opening on the 29th, those horses that qualified on that Monday would be ready to race back the following Monday on the sixth in an actual paramutual race. And then with the Thursday qualifiers on the second, those horses would be ready to race back on the Thursday and Friday of the following week as well. If there is an abundance of horses, there's a possibility that a third day could be added in. We'll just wait and see what the horse population looks like. Okay. But everybody's in agreement. Thank you, that's important. Commissioner Zinnicka, you also had a question on qualifying races. Yeah, thank you. Well, much of which was already answered, but let me just ask so that I make sure I understand it. The waiver from 30 to 45 days, which we've done in the past has the net effect of being not a matter, it doesn't matter in this case, right? Because it's fair to say that nobody has really raced, you know, many more days than 45 days. That would be correct, commissioner. This is really for the entirety of the current race meet. Once we get started in racing, so again, going forward, that'll be the rule for the entire season in terms of extending that qualifying period. So you are correct. It doesn't necessarily address the issue of the long layoffs at the beginning, which is the reason we're doing the qualifying races now. So they will be qualified, but this will be in effect for the entire meet as well, and which has been done for the past several years. So it's something we're comfortable with and the horseman support as well. Okay, well, I look forward to getting an update as I know we will relative to how many horses and horsemen show up for those qualifying races, which will give us a better indication of how many more races are needed, qualifying races. I'd like to add that, you know, with respect to whether or not we could have considered waving qualifying races all together. I'm terribly sympathetic for the horse racing community in terms of the dire straits they've faced over the last several months. It's been a very difficult time for them, not only exacerbated by all the isolation that we've all experienced, but also of course the economic impact on that community in particular. So it would have been very exciting to be able to begin racing with the purse available. I think that Alex has outlined why it's so critical to have these qualifying races, particularly in these times, to make sure that the best of our ability, the horses are safe and sound and ready to race. And I'm pleased that there's an agreement today on that. So, you know, we are all just hopeful that racing can open where the horses, the riders are safe and then the community is also protected against the impact of the virus. So thank you on that. So do we need a, are there any for the comments on the issue of qualifying racing? Cause it was, it's a little bit confusing in terms of where we were mainly because as Alex said, we were ready to go March 12th. I'll set, do we want to have a motion then on this particular matter? Madam chair, I'd move that the commission approve the request of Plain Ridge Park Casino for a waiver of the 2020 racing season with respect to 205 CMR 3.127, which would require all horses not showing a satisfactory racing line during the previous 45 days to run a qualifying mile in a race before the judges. Second. Any further questions, comments? Just point of clarification, is it sub six or sub seven? Seven. It's seven, that was my mistake. At one point the regulations got renumbered and I didn't do the cut and paste on that regulation number. Thanks. Good clarification. Thank you. Any other comments? Excellent. I'll take a roll call vote. Commissioner Cameron. Aye. Commissioner O'Brien. Aye. Commissioner Zuniga. Aye. Mr. Stebbins. Aye. My vote, yes. Five, zero. Shara, thank you very much. Okay, now we'll go back to item two A. I mean, I'm sorry to B on the agenda. Alex, if you want to elaborate, please. So this is their annual request for approval of their racing officials and key operating personnel. These folks have all been in their positions before with Plaintage Park, Casino. And so they're well known to us. And as we do in the past, we'll ask that they be approved pending licensing and the background check by the state police. Not all of these folks are in yet as far as their applications go. And I don't know if Chris has anything he'd like to add. Nothing else, Alex. Thank you. Are there any questions for Alex on this? I'm looking the list of the individuals, of course, referenced in the packet. I don't think I have a page number, but for operating personnel, there's seven individuals who's doing about 15 producing officials. And that will carry you through the season, Alex. Yes. Any questions for Alex? Commissioner Cameron, do you know many of these individuals personally are all set? I do, yes. And I'm happy to see there's some redundancy there. As we talked about earlier, everybody has a short staff. So that's nice to see that they've really thought about some backup plans here and some cross-training. So are we ready for a motion? We are. Okay, I move that the commission approve the Plain Ridge Park Casino's list of key operating personnel and racing officials dated March 5th, 2020, as included in the commissioner's packet, pending satisfactory completion of licensure by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission Racing Division and satisfactory completion of their backgrounds, checked by the Massachusetts Police. Second. Second from Commissioner O'Brien. Thank you, any further questions or comments on this? All right, Commissioner Cameron. Hi. Commissioner O'Brien. Hi. Commissioner Zuniga. Hi. Commissioner Stebbins. Hi. And I vote yes. Five, zero. Thank you very much. Moving on now to item 2D, closing out our agenda for the day. Dr. Leipzig. So again, this is a annual request. The standard bread owners of Massachusetts is the group that has the, there's basically the representative group of the standard bread readers. And in the, in our regulations, it does need to be approved. They're not specifically named in the regulations unlike the thoroughbred people. I believe Nancy Longabody, the secretary and treasurer for the group is on the line. If she would like to unmute and speak. I am here. Can you hear me? Hi Nancy, yes, we can hear you. Hi, hi, great. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Nancy Longabody and I am indeed the secretary treasurer for the standard bread owners of Massachusetts. I would like to thank the commissioners for hearing our annual request for the program. And as Dr. Leipbaum stated, I believe I was next to speak three months, three months before. So here we are again. And one thing for sure, which is exciting and great for the program is the mayors did have their bowls all across the Commonwealth. So that's exciting for breeding and racing. And we're looking forward to getting back onto the track and are still hopeful to have a good season once again. Fortunately for us, our races are scheduled into the fall, which will be very helpful. So that's a good thing. I just wanted to share with you some of the highlights from the past season. We had a total of 35 races with 217 starters. Our purses awarded were just a bit over 1.7 million. Our average field size had increased very nicely in 2019. Our general numbers for 2019, we had 141 mayors, 99 yearlings, 92 two-year-olds. We had 32 three-year-olds with a total of 364 horses, registered individual horses registered in the program. In 2020, we have 121 mayors, and they're spread out over 35 farms across the Commonwealth. So we're still moving forward. So we like that. Our group would like to thank the Plain Ridge staff and Dr. Lightbomb staff for their continued help and support every year during our races. It can be a little bit confusing. It's a lot of horses, but everything goes very smoothly, as I said, with all of their help. So we do appreciate that. A couple of things that we were hoping to do outside of racing this year. We were planning to support the Polar Plunge, a local charitable event put together by the local communities of Norfolk, Rentham and Plainville, and they are hoping to still hold that in November. Could be a little chilly, but we look forward to getting involved with that. Also, we are looking into a retraining program for the mass spread horses, kind of as they move into their next phase of their life after their track days are complete. So we are going to definitely get involved in that. Obviously with the COVID, it's made it a little bit more difficult to do some projects. We also would have loved to have done another video, which I know the commission has always enjoyed previously, but there again, hopefully we will do it next year when things get back to a little bit back to normal. So I just want to thank you again for hearing our requests and I'd be happy to answer any questions at this time. Any questions? Thank you, thank you very much. And thank you for sharing the statistics. Very interesting. Sharon, perhaps maybe we can highlight, pull those out and circulate that so that the commissioners can see those numbers. That's excellent. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions for Nancy? I don't have a question, Madam Chair, but just I do love your videos. Nancy, you know that. And but I love the verbal update as well. We're all adjusting, right? So it's great to see the program working. So effectively that's a good sign for the future. And it's always nice to hear about your charitable activities as well. So I thank you for that update. It's really helpful to us to understand how well things are working in standard bread racing. So thanks. You're welcome. Commissioners, I think Alex needs action. Do we have a motion? Madam Chair, I move the commission approve the request of the standard bread owners of Massachusetts Inc. to be recognized as the group of representative standard bread breeders to administer the standard bread breeding program and the sire steaks race for 2020. Second. Thank you. Any further discussion or comments? OK. I just had a technical issue. Thank you. Commissioner Cameron. Aye. Commissioner O'Brien. Aye. Commissioner Zuniga. Aye. Commissioner Stemmins. Aye. I vote yes, 5-0. Thank you. Before we close, the agenda does allow for any commission updates at this juncture. Is there anything that any of my fellow commissioners wish to bring forward today? We're lucky that we're going to be meeting tomorrow and on Thursday. Commissioner Cameron, do you have any update? I do not. Thank you. Are we all set then? Thank you. Before we move for any adjournment, I just want to thank our guests and participants today, Mr. Antonacci, Mr. Corey, Mr. McHugh, Bob. Thank you so much for coming today. We didn't hear much from you, but I know that you were listening intently. And then, Chris, thank you for your guidance. This was very helpful for me. And I suspect that my fellow commissioners, so we appreciate your showing up and participating very, very much. Thank you very much for having this. And we look forward to getting back to racing in the near future. And same for the horsemen and women. It is a little bit of a niche industry and can be a little confusing at times. So we're happy to be here to maybe put some things in layman terms to help you understand it. So we appreciate this opportunity. We really do. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. If we're all set then, I need a motion. Move to adjourn. Second. Thank you, Commissioner. Any questions, any comments, any edits? Commissioner Cameron. Aye. Commissioner O'Brien. Aye. Commissioner Zinica. Aye. Thank you, everybody. Commissioner Stephens. Aye. Thanks, everybody. And I vote yes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Everyone be safe.