Over a month ago the ARC Stewards voted to accept the TABA proposal to sponsor two new races that will be the second leg of the Triple Crown Series (TCS), and terminate the Jewels of the East as part of the TCS. At that point I began a wide survey of e-mails, phone calls, snail mail, and interviews to try to take the pulse of the industry relative to continuing the Jewels, where to run them or if we should refund the money to the participants.

To make a long story a bit shorter, the Board of Directors of the Arabian Racing Association of Florida have voted to terminate the Jewels and refund monies to all participants that were current as of 15 March, 2005. This decision was based on the following input:

#1. Loss of the TCS status prompted many participants to request refunds, which greatly reduced the general support for continuing the races;

#2.The owners/breeders have been the Major supporters of this industry since I have been involved (1989) and running the TABA TCS races plus the Jewels places a severe financial burden on all involved which could detract from the ARC TCS;

#3.Reduced participation in the Jewels seriously threatens the quality and size of the fields;

#4.There has been some equivocation from Texas to host the Jewels;

#5. And finally, it is our desire that refunding the Jewels money would be a financial boost to participants that would give them some extra funds to support the TABA sponsored TCS races and give these races a "shot in the arm" to help them achieve a pair of $50,000.00 races to make a great showing for the 2006 Triple Crown Series.

Sincerely,

Fred Cox, President
Arabian Racing Association of Florida