It may be hard to believe that anyone who calls himself a Horsemen in the tradition of our beloved Thoroughbred trainers, breeders and owners could throw fellow Horsemen under the bus, but that’s what the irascible and inscrutable Billy Lagorio just did in a recent letter to the Massachusetts Horse Racing Committee where he begins by opposing a reduction in the Thoroughbred industry’s share of the Race Horse Development Fund before taking his bus on a mad rampage.
The self-appointed president of the fabricated MassTHA then veers off his RHDF mission to attack the NEHBPA and then saves his final assault on fellow horsemen (yes, even those among his ranks) who are recipients of health, medical and other benefits for retired trainers.
On April 15, 2020, Lagorio wrote to the HRC/MGC – without any factual basis – that “the fund is going to unknown and unverified recipients, which is in the eyes of the MassTHA is now and has always been a sham.”
We never really understood the depth of Lagorio’s venomous hatred for the NEHBPA, but we didn’t think it would get to this point where he is now launching a personal vendetta against our retirees, men and women who have spent their working lives in our profession and now need the modest assistance that we are able to provide over the last 25 years.
And how ironic (bizarre) that the very benevolence extended by the NEHBPA has also benefited some retirees who are part of Billy’s Revenge! Well, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make ‘em think!
The NEHBPA inherited a problem that we are trying to resolve by fighting to secure the RDHF, protecting our members benefits and finding investors and land to restore FULL time racing to Massachusetts.
NEHBPA