A message from Director of Racing, Jennifer Durenberger, from the Global Symposium on Racing!

The following is a message from Dr. Jennifer Durenberger, Director of  Racing for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission:

Greetings from the Global Symposium on Racing!

This year marks the 39th annual symposium, described as “The Place Where Racing’s Leaders Meet.”  This week, I had the pleasure of participating in a panel entitled, “New Strategies in Regulating the Race.”  As part of that panel, Vice President of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) Madeline Auerbach announced the first round of aftercare organizations to receive accreditation and grant money through this latest of our industry’s recent landmark initiatives.  (A link to the press release may be found here.)

During the course of the morning’s discussion, a very simple idea occurred to me.  The horse racing industry has now established a winning trifecta: 1. Safety initiatives. 2. Sensible regulation. 3. Commitment to aftercare.  We have done this on our own – through the facilitation of open and honest dialogue about what needs fixing, through the tireless efforts of so many committed individuals, and through creative fundraising mechanisms to ensure that good ideas can actually be implemented.  No one can argue that the collective progress we have made in each of these three areas in the past few years far outpaces that seen in the decades preceding.

The Racing Division of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission congratulates all of these aftercare organizations on their successful completion of the TAA’s rigorous accreditation process.  Our equine athletes – and consequently our industry – have a brighter future because of you.

Dr. Durenberger first began working on the racetrack in 1991 as a veterinary assistant at what was then Canterbury Downs in Shakopee, MN. She received her veterinary degree from Cornell University in 2002. Following an internship at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, KY and a short time in private practice, Dr. Durenberger went back to the racetrack. She was employed as a track veterinarian for the New York Racing Association from 2003-2008, at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga. She left New York for California in 2008, working for the California Horse Racing Board from 2008-2010 at Hollywood Park, Santa Anita, Fairplex and Los Alamitos while completing a law degree. Following a term as an association steward at Delta Downs in Louisiana, Dr. Durenberger accepted her current position as Director of Racing for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

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