Sale integrity panel named

The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association on Monday named 11 members to serve on the Monitoring Committee of the Sales Integrity Task Force. The committee will oversee implementation of the task force's November 2007 recommendations to increase transparency in bloodstock sales and also with evaluating the recommendations' effectiveness.

The committee members are Jimmy Bell of Darley USA; Reynolds Bell Jr., of Reynolds Bell Thoroughbred Services; Bill Casner of WinStar Farm; Nick Nicholson of Keeneland; Mike O'Farrell of Ocala Stud Farm; Frank Penn of Pennbrook Farm; Fred Sarver of the American Saddlebred Horse Association; Samantha Siegel of Jay Em Ess Stable; John Sikura of Hill 'n' Dale Farm; D.G. Van Clief of Fasig-Tipton; and Bayne Welker of Mill Ridge Farm.

Among the task force's recommendations were establishing a restricted-access repository where consignors voluntarily can disclose sale horses' ownership; banning anabolic steroids within 45 days of a sale; and publishing an agents' code of conduct in auctions' conditions of sale.