David Lermond resigned from the Virginia Racing Commission as executive secretary.
Lermond simply stated that he is no longer an employee of the commission in a letter to "friends and stakeholders" that was made public on Tuesday. He did not provide a reason for his resignation.
During a Tuesday phone call with Horse Racing Nation, Lermond declined to comment on the reasons behind his resignation. He said, “I would rather just let my statement stand.” However, he maintained it was a friendly parting.
The commission's acting executive secretary is Bernard Hettel. Before 2016, he served as executive secretary for five years.
The Virginia Racing Commission welcomed Lermond, at 57, in 2004. He stated that he is unsure about his future course of action.
“I have so many different avenues that I've been a part of, with working for Delaware Park for 10 years as the director of simulcasting, and then I was started with the Virginia Horse Racing Commission as director of parimutuels and became the fiscal officer and went to steward school and then I was the deputy," he said. "We've got HHR now, which was a whole, very interesting and challenging thing to regulate. I just have a lot of contacts in the industry. And I just want to do something that can benefit horse racing, but something different.”
Hettel claimed he was unaware of the details underlying Lermond's exit.
“They asked me to fill in during the time between his departure and hiring a new director,” he said in a phone conversation.
He stated that the team was putting together an advertisement for trade newspapers and that the search for a new executive secretary had started on Tuesday.