TRI: Decoupling Would Decimate FL Thoroughbred Industry

The Florida Thoroughbred breeding and racing industry provides one of the state's most robust agri-businesses, with 33,500 jobs and $3.24 billion in annual economic impact. To put that in perspective: All collegiate athletics in the state account for a $3.1 billion contribution.

"Legislation that would devastate Florida's storied athletic programs would never get out of committee—and rightly so," said David O'Farrell, president of the Thoroughbred Racing Initiative (TRI) and general manager of Ocala Stud. "Yet the ramifications of passage of House Bill 105 and Senate Bill 408 would decimate our labor-intensive Thoroughbred industry. For what? To enrich a foreign owner who wants to build a casino and hotel at the direct expense of live racing?

"We're puzzled by the bills because just last year the legislature made a major investment in growing the state's agricultural industry, including horses raised, trained and raced in Florida. We believe some lawmakers simply don't realize everything at stake, and our mission is to educate them. There is not a do-over if the Thoroughbred industry implodes. When those jobs dry up, tens of thousands of Floridians will get out of the business or leave the state. The hundreds of millions of dollars spent each year by out-of-staters in travel to and lodging and dining in Florida because of the horse industry will evaporate."

The Thoroughbred Racing Initiative—a collaboration of Thoroughbred owners, breeders, trainers, sales companies and consignors and their representatives—was formed earlier this month to tell the industry's story and to defeat so-called decoupling legislation. More information can be found out thoroughbredracinginitiative.com.

Gulfstream Park is allowed to have casino gaming because of legislation passed by the Florida legislature in 2004 to protect the state's horse-racing and pari-mutuel industries. If Gulfstream Park would cease racing, the demand for Florida-bred and other Thoroughbreds in the state would plummet, with Marion County and surrounding counties feeling the brunt.

HB 105 awaits a hearing before the House's Commerce Committee, while SB 408 has been referred to "Regulated Industries; Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government; Rules."

What's at risk with HB 105/SB 408 (statistics courtesy the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association):

• The aforementioned $3.24 billion annual economic impact and 33,500 jobs produced by the Thoroughbred industry.
• 87,600 Thoroughbreds, including 75,000 residing in Marion County. Many of those horses are owned by Floridians, but thousands are owned by out-of-staters who pay to have their horses boarded, trained or prepared for sale in the state ... 
• ... That includes up to 75 percent of each year's North American foal crop getting their earliest training in the Ocala area for future racing careers across America and the world.
• The globally prominent Ocala Breeders Sales (OBS) last year sold 4,147 horses for a total of $180 million, the majority(?) of those horses exported to other states.
• Thoroughbreds account for a sizable portion of the more than a half-million acres of green space used by equines.

The backstory: Gulfstream Park, originally built in 1939, was sold to Canadian industrialist and horse enthusiast Frank Stronach in 1999 for $95 million. A constitutional amendment passed in 2005 allowed expanded gaming at pari-mutuel facilities in Broward (including Gulfstream) and Miami-Dade counties. In 2020, a Stronach family feud was settled with Frank Stronach retaining the breeding properties and his daughter Belinda gaining control of the racing and gaming operations, including Gulfstream Park. 

"Frank Stronach purchased Gulfstream Park when it could only offer live racing," said Damon Thayer, the TRI's senior advisor who spent 22 years in the Kentucky Senate championing legislation that allowed the state's Thoroughbred industry to invest in itself. "When voters blessed having expanded gaming at the track to help pari-mutuel facilities compete, Gulfstream's ownership was quite happy to get the opportunity and willingly signed an agreement to work with horsemen. Now, 20 years later, Gulfstream's current corporate owners decide they want out of the racing business but want to keep the gaming licenses acquired on the back of the Thoroughbred industry.

"There are more than two dozen casinos and card rooms throughout Florida in various shapes and sizes. There is no reason a casino can't cohabitate with racing at Gulfstream Park, as they do in a number of states. Destroying an iconic Florida industry to accommodate one more casino makes no sense."