A group of racing industry participants have formed a group to lobby against a bill that would allow Gulfstream Park to decouple its racing and casino licenses, an effort that has met steep resistance in the training and breeding communities across the U.S.
The group, which calls itself the Thoroughbred Racing Initiative, announced its formation on a podcast Tuesday that is co-hosted by one of the founders of the group, Jon Green, the manager of D .J. Stable LLC. Other founding members include David O’Farrell, the co-owner of Ocala Stud in Marion County, Fla., and Mark Casse, the trainer.
The group’s senior advisor is Damon Thayer, who now runs a consulting company after stepping down from the Kentucky State Senate after 22 years in office. Thayer was the Senate majority leader for the final seven years of his legislative career, and he frequently spearheaded racing-related legislation, including a successful effort to explicitly legalize slot machine-like devices at Kentucky racetracks.
National and Florida-based horsemen’s groups have already begun efforts to lobby against the Florida bill, which passed out of a House committee two weeks ago with the support of Gulfstream Park. The Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association and Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company are also lobbying against bill.
A similar bill has been introduced into the Florida Senate.
Officials for Gulfstream’s parent company, 1/ST Racing, have told horsemen the track needs to decouple the licenses in order to fund development projects on the property, which is located on highly valuable real estate in Hallandale Beach in the Miami metro area. Officials have also said they are exploring selling the property outright.
Nothing in current legislation prevents Gulfstream from selling the property or closing the casino and redeveloping the land. Legislation allowing other pari-mutuel facilities to decouple resulted in all of the facilities ending their live racing operations.
Thayer said on the podcast that officials connected to the Florida horse industry have already fanned out in the Florida legislature to express their misgivings over the bill. He said the effort reminded him of the full-press campaign to get legislative authorization for gambling devices in Kentucky after the state’s Supreme Court ruled that the machines were illegal.
“This is a similar situation where we have to get everyone together in a short period of time, but this time to kill a bill,” Thayer said.
Thayer said that the new group will also seek to lobby for legislation favorable to racing in other states. Already, Thayer said, he has lobbied in Texas for racing-friendly legislation.
“I believe this model can be picked up and laid down in other state capitals and achieve success,” Thayer said.
O’Farrell, whose family has run Ocala Stud for three generations, said that the introduction of the bill has rallied the Ocala horse community.
“We’re all going to try to row in the same direction and defeat this bill,” O’Farrell.
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