‘They Are Not Our Friends’: California Officials Say Animal Rights Extremists Used COVID-19 To Halt Racing

For animal rights extremists who have been lobbying to halt California horse racing for the last several years, the coronavirus pandemic provided an opportunity too good to resist. That's the theory shared by several in California racing, including Thoroughbred Owners of California president and CEO Greg Avioli. In a call hosted by TOC Friday, Avioli and Craig Fravel, chief executive officer for racing operations for The Stronach Group, indicated they thought interest from the Los Angeles County Health Department stemmed from complaints from animal rights extremist groups. Fravel mentioned that several public information act requests are pending to try to confirm. “We have seen multiple social media posts urging members to weigh in with Alameda County, LA County, Orange County, to use this as an opportunity to shut down racing,” said Avioli. Social media posts and activity on a recent California Horse Racing Board teleconference have appeared to suggest that people who previously sent letters and comments to local officials about their ethical objections to racing were now reframing their complaints to focus on the potential of COVID-19 spread in the barn area. “I'm very passionate about the subject,” Avioli said. “It's one thing to support animal welfare, but the extremists who want to end horse racing. We cannot work with them. They are not our friends. They've largely lied and they've been given a free run on the lead. The TOC are working with a number of people throughout the state and we are preparing a very strong response both to them directly and to the legislature and members of the administration office...MORE