For Immediate Release April 23, 2009
Statement from USPA Exec. Dir. on News Reports of Florida Pharmacy Admission of Error in the Medicine Dispensed to the Horses who died on Sunday.
April 23, 2009 – Lexington, KY. Peter Rizzo, Executive Director of the United States Polo Association (USPA), issued the following statement about the news reports about the Ocala Franck’s pharmacy internal report findings:
“The news reports of the pharmacy admitting to wrongly preparing the medicine before last Sunday’s match is very disheartening. We have all suffered a terrible loss.”
“Today we come together to celebrate our sport with our championship matches and tonight we will come together again to mourn our fallen ponies in a memorial service.”
“We will continue to work with all the authorities to get to the bottom of this tragedy and determine definitively what happened to the horses in this isolated and unprecedented event.”
UNITED STATES POLO ASSOCIATION www.uspolo.org
The United States Polo Association has been organized and exists for the purposes of promoting the game of polo, coordinating the activities of its Member Clubs (Clubs) and Registered Players, arranging and supervising polo tournaments, competitions, and games and providing rules, handicaps, and conditions for those tournaments, competitions, and games including the safety and welfare of participants and mounts.
Peter Rizzo, Executive Director of the United States Polo Association
Peter Rizzo is the executive director of the United States Polo Association (USPA). He has played polo for over forty-five years as an amateur and professional both nationally and internationally. As the USPA Equine Welfare Representative Rizzo’s responsibilities include being the primary contact for reporting to the appropriate civil authorities who have jurisdiction to review and remedy cases of alleged horse abuse and neglect.
CONTACT:
John Cpin
Cell: 202.390.1397 jcpin@bgrdc.com
Jessica Hoy
Direct: 202-661-6363 Cell: 202.415.1023 jhoy@bgrdc.com