A invoice that will decouple gaming licenses tied to Florida Thoroughbred tracks handed the Industries and Skilled Actions Subcommittee of the State Home of Representatives Feb. 5 in Tallahassee, Fla., regardless of opposition from Florida horsemen and a breeding consultant.
By clearing the Industries and Skilled Actions Subcommittee, Home Invoice 105 can now proceed into the complete Florida Home of Representatives. There’s a related decoupling invoice proposed within the Senate.
In introducing the invoice Wednesday earlier than the subcommittee, the invoice’s sponsor, Rep. Adam Anderson, took intention at what he described as subsidies supplied to the horse racing business in Florida. He cited earlier decoupling laws handed in Florida in 2021—which led to the demise of greyhound and Standardbred racing within the state—and stated that regulation “didn’t appropriately apply the brand new coverage to Thoroughbred allow holders.”
1/ST Racing, which owns Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Seaside, Fla., favors decoupling, and Wednesday, the invoice’s language was amended to incorporate Tampa Bay Downs and its card room. That modification, proposed by Rep. Brad Yeager, handed simply.
Roughly two-thirds of the committee voted in favor of the amended invoice, and solely Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson sharply criticized the proposed laws in public remarks. She famous the significance of the equine business to her district of Marion County, together with quite a few farms round Ocala.Join BloodHorse Every day
She cited an American Horse Council Basis report that stated the Thoroughbred business contributes $3.24 billion to the Florida financial system. That very same report signifies that Florida’s 87,600 Thoroughbreds—one in all each 4 horses in Florida—assist 33,500 jobs or 30% of equine employment.
“My query is, why on earth would you pull that form of cash out of the Florida business, and the way is that economical?” she requested Anderson.
Anderson replied that nothing could be “pulled” from the racing business within the invoice itself and talked about that racing and breeding-related subsidies—the equine business considers them tax incentives earned when it agreed to, and supported, permitting added gaming into the state—wouldn’t be discontinued. However when earlier laws supplied decoupling for operators of greyhound and Standardbred racinos, these house owners selected to tug the plug on racing. Casinos are way more worthwhile than racing and require fewer sources, similar to racetrack land and stabling.Â
Jena Antonucci, who grew to become the primary feminine coach to win a Triple Crown race when Arcangelo  gained the 2023 Belmont Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park, spoke earlier than legislators, telling them she considers herself “fortunate” to name Marion County her residence and to coach horses at Gulfstream Park.
Picture: Skip Dickstein(L-R): Jon Ebbert, Jena Antonucci, and Javier Castellano have fun Arcangelo’s win within the 2023 Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park
“It has been an honor to take action, and it might be devastating to not have the ability to do each of my life’s passions which have began since I used to be 3 years outdated,” she stated, her voice typically cracking with emotion. “I’ve watched the state evolve over my lifetime and watch farms change to indicate services and residential areas, and the concept Gulfstream Park would probably not be a cornerstone of horse racing is completely mind-numbing. However previous that, greater than something, is what it might imply to our native economies, to the agriculture within the state and the billions of {dollars} that it generates simply behind tourism and what meaning; much less farm house owners and fewer neighborhood and fewer enrichment. The racing is only a very, very small portion of what occurs.”
Lobbyist Jeff Johnston (not the previous jockey of the identical identify) spoke to legislators on behalf of Gulfstream Park. He famous, “No one stated racing is stopping. They’re decoupling the 2 to allow them to be impartial, and it offers the monitor flexibility to do issues that they should do on the monitor.
“Nowhere within the invoice, and you’ll learn the invoice, does it say that racing (will probably be) discontinued. Matter of reality, Gulfstream Park races greater than anyone within the nation. Statutorily, we have to race 40 days a yr; we race 200. Gulfstream Park does extra for the business in Florida than anyone else. Moreover, in 2025 they’ve already submitted for his or her racing:Â 200 days. They’ve already submitted to the division 200 days in 2026. I do not know the place the narrative of racing is stopping is coming from.”
Johnston didn’t point out that in January 1/ST Racing consultant Keith Brackpool stated that even with decoupling, reside racing at Gulfstream Park’s present web site couldn’t be assured previous 2028 as a result of the land is just too useful.Â
Horsemen are involved by the specter of decoupling, figuring out what has beforehand occurred.
Picture: SV PhotographyRacing at Tampa Bay Downs
Jan Meehan, vp of the Tampa Bay Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protecting Affiliation, spoke out in opposition to decoupling in the course of the assembly, and simply days in the past, the Florida Thoroughbred Horsemen, the designated horsemen’s group in South Florida, introduced in a Feb. 3 assertion that its board voted unanimously in opposition to the passage of HB 105 after they’d beforehand indicated assist for it.Â
Lonny Powell, CEO of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and House owners’ Affiliation, passionately informed the committee of his considerations. In explaining the emotion in his remarks, Powell spoke of being the third technology of his household within the horse racing enterprise.
“This isn’t only a piece of paper that everyone’s simply going to proceed to race,” he stated. “It is a piece of paper that may permit many individuals to lose their jobs, and for a 70-something, a 75-, 80-year-old business on this state, a signature business on this state, to be in peril.”
He later added about Gulfstream Park, “The monitor was purchased when it wasn’t a on line casino, and it obtained its on line casino gaming as a result of the folks voted to assist racing via the on line casino.”
Nonetheless, their feedback didn’t sway sufficient members of the subcommittee to oppose the decoupling invoice.Â
Whether or not the Thoroughbred business receives extra assist within the full legislature will probably be decided within the weeks and months forward. Final yr in supportive motion, legislators handed a tax package deal that prolonged incentives via Home Invoice 7073, which allotted greater than $32.5 million to the Florida racing and breeding industries.
