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Belfiore Named New Executive Director Of Florida HBPA

Andy Belfiore, who has served as the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association's Project Manager for the Mid-Atlantic Strategic Plan to Reduce Equine Fatalities for the last two years, has been named the new Executive Director of the Florida HBPA.

As Project Manager for the Strategic Plan, Belfiore worked with the plan's architects — Equine Medical Director Dr. Scott Palmer and Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association Chairman Alan Foreman — to organize and implement all aspects of the initiative, including coordination among industry stakeholders and regulators in the region, and communication with the Thoroughbred industry, legislators and the public.

“The FHBPA Board members as well as myself are delighted that Andy accepted our offer to serve as Executive Director,” FHBPA President Stephen Screnci said. “With her experience, knowledge and industry contacts, she's undoubtedly the perfect fit.”

A native of Massachusetts, Belfiore started her career in racing on the backstretch at Belmont Park, working as a hotwalker, groom, exercise rider and assistant trainer. After 10 years with the horses, she moved to the frontside at the track, and spent five years in the communications and marketing departments at NYRA. Belfiore left NYRA in 1993 to take the reins as editor-in-chief at the Thoroughbred Daily News, a position she held for 18 years. She was hired as Director of Communications for the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association in December, 2011, and took over as Executive Director of in 2015, a post she held for four years. Belfiore has also served as Executive Director of the TAKE2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program Inc., and as co-Chair of the Board of the Backstretch Employee Service Team.

“I'm looking forward to working with Stephen and the Florida HBPA,” Belfiore said. “Racing in South Florida faces its challenges, but the horsemen have elected a terrific Board, and Stephen has proven to be a strong leader. I'm excited to be a part of the team.”

The post Belfiore Named New Executive Director Of Florida HBPA appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Florida Legislature Hands Sports Betting To Seminoles, Permits Non-Thoroughbred Tracks To Decouple From Gaming

On the final day of a special session, Florida legislators on Wednesday approved three separate gambling measures that will strengthen the Seminole tribe's dominant position in the gambling market, allow non-Thoroughbred pari-mutuel facilities to decouple casinos and card rooms from their racing and jai-alai operations, and create a five-member Gaming Commission that will replace the state's Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering.

The net result will mean more competition for the state's two remaining Thoroughbred tracks, Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar and Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach. Horsemen fear that will lead to lower purse money for Gulfstream Park and a reduction in racing days, according to Stephen Screnci, president of the Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association.

The bill that garnered the most attention is approval of a 30-year compact between Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Seminoles, giving the tribe a monopoly on sports betting and permitting the addition of three new casinos on the site of the existing Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, approximately 10 miles northwest of Gulfstream Park. The state gets $500 million a year from the the deal for the next five years.

The Seminoles will have a monopoly on sports betting, both at the seven Florida casinos they currently operate and via mobile applications. Pari-mutuel facilities may enter into agreements with the Seminoles to offer sports betting and split revenue with the tribe.

That portion of the legislation, along with language that could bring a new casino to Miami-Dade County off tribal land, is likely to be challenged in court by gambling opponents who say the bill violates a 2018 statewide ballot initiative that blocked any further expansion of gambling without voter approval.

The bill to approve the Seminoles compact passed 38-1 in the Senate and 97-17 in the House.

The decoupling bill likely will end live racing at South Florida's Pompano Park, the state's only harness track that opened in 1964 and is now known as Isle Casino Pompano, a Caesars Entertainment property. A last-minute amendment in the Florida House version of the bill to exempt harness racing from the decoupling law was stripped in the final version that passed the Senate by a 39-0 vote and the House in a 73-43 vote.

Hialeah Park may also have seen its last race. The historic track that once hosted South Florida's best winter Thoroughbred meet has been operating its casino since 2010 in connection with a Quarter Horse permit that began with competitive racing sanctioned by the Florida Quarter Horse Association. Those races were replaced by match races that were run so that Hialeah fulfilled its casino license obligation to conduct races as defined by Florida statute. That will no longer be necessary.

The idea of acquiring licenses for card rooms and simulcasting by running horse races began in Florida's panhandle when an operation in Gadsden County offered pari-mutuel wagering on barrel races. After a court struck down that as not fitting the definition of pari-mutuel races, lawyers familiar with state regulations came up with the idea of match races – sometimes involving flag drop starts and slow horses walking or trotting down a dirt path. Remarkably, that passed legal muster and Quarter Horse permits sprung up in several other locations around the state, with farcical races giving operators the legal right to open card rooms and simulcast parlors.

Under the bill passed on Wednesday, all those facilities may now end the sham horse races but continue to operate their card rooms and simulcasting. The same is true of the state's jai-alai frontons, which may also be decoupled. Greyhound racing became extinct at the end of 2020 after Florida voters approved a ballot initiative to ban the sport, so those tracks already have decoupled from their card rooms and simulcasting.

Screnci, the HBPA president, said revenue from slots operations to purses – currently about 20% of total purses – will fall. Currently, he said, horsemen receive about $9 million annually from the Calder Casino, but the contract with owner Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) is set to expire on July 31. CDI previously received state approval to couple its Calder Casino operations with a jai-alai permit it acquired, allowing the company to end live racing at the track that in recent years has been leased to Gulfstream Park's owners and rebranded as Gulfstream Park West. The decoupling bill will allow CDI to stop conducting jai-alai and keep its casino open. Screnci said he has had talks with Bill Carstanjen, CEO of CDI, about the company continuing to contribute to purses, since horsemen were instrumental in Calder getting its casino license.

According to Screnci, the Gulfstream Park slots contribute about $6 million annually to purses, and that could fall as the other casinos in the region (including the former Hollywood greyhound track now known as The Big Easy casino and located just over one mile north) become more profitable.

The tax rate on slot operations run by the Seminoles is 12.5%, Screnci said, with Gulfstream Park paying a 35% tax rate.

Horsemen lobbied in Tallahassee for concessions for Thoroughbred racing, but those talks fell on “deaf ears,” Screnci said.

“We asked for a purse pool, with the decoupled permit holders contributing a portion of their funds now that they won't have to spend anything on racing,” he said. “That didn't get a lot of support. There still could be some appropriations from compact money that goes to the state. That's not dead. This compact doesn't discuss any appropriations of money. We might be able to get in the mix there.”

Screnci said the compact between the tribe and DeSantis permits Miami-Dade and Broward pari-mutuels up to a 5% tax break, but not until 2023.

“It's a bad compact,” he said, adding that even with the addition of new casinos and sports betting the state is only getting an additional $100 million per year compared to the old compact.

His fear is that with Calder no longer an option as a racetrack and purse revenue expected to decline, Gulfstream Park will have to cut racing dates. “We can only go so low (on purses),” he said. “If we lose too many racing days, the lure of year-round racing goes away. That's one way we've managed to keep stables here in October and November, by racing so many days.”

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Purina, Seminole Feed Join Gulfstream, Florida HBPA As Canter For The Cause Co-Sponsors

Purina and Seminole Feed have joined Gulfstream Park and the Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (FHBPA) as a sponsor for Canter for the Cause, a unique event that will allow equine owners and enthusiasts to walk, trot or canter their horse across legendary Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., on Monday, March 15.

“We are proud to support Gulfstream Park and the Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association with Canter for the Cause,” said Sheila Conde, South Florida Equine Specialist of Purina Animal Nutrition LLC. “The programs are necessary, and the horses bring so much value to the equine industry in all disciplines. Thank you to Gulfstream Park for hosting the event. The riders and participants had a wonderful time in 2019 during the first event.”

Sherri Boland, Equine Nutritional Consultant with Seminole Feed, said: “We are so proud and honored to be invited to sponsor a charity that is near and dear to our heart. Seminole feed has a long history of supporting the Thoroughbred racing industry in Florida since 1934, and now throughout the country. What better way to give back to this cause than to help raise awareness to the rehoming and retraining of these magnificent athletes.”

Canter for the Cause participants will choose from three groups (walk, trot, canter) when registering. All participants will have a chance to have their pictures taken in the winner's circle by Gulfstream Park. All riders must wear helmets, proper boots or shoes, and face coverings. All horses must have a valid and current Coggins to show at registration. Temperature checks will be taken upon entrance.

Registration is $50. All proceeds from the event will go to Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance accredits, inspects, and awards grants to approved aftercare organizations to retrain, retire, and rehome Thoroughbreds using industry-wide funding.

Participants will need to register by 10 a.m. the day of Canter for the Cause. The first group will go out at 11 a.m.

To register and pay by credit card, go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/canter-for-the-cause-tickets-140415286903

For more information go to: https://gulfstreampark.com/events-and-entertainment/event-calendar/details/2021/03/15/default-calendar/canter-for-the-cause or call Nikki Bernstein at 954.817.1441.

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Florida Racing Prepares To Say Goodbye To Calder

Saturday’s opening day at the meet rebranded as Gulfstream Park West will truly mark the beginning of an end. Barring an 11th hour reprieve from the courts, the 40-day season will be the last ever run at Calder Race Course, the meat-and-potatoes South Florida track that has been operating since 1971.

Since 2014, the racing operation has been leased by Calder’s owner, Churchill Downs Inc., to Gulfstream Park’s owners, The Stronach Group, which renamed the track Gulfstream Park West. That lease expires at the end of the year and TSG is in the process of putting together a 2021 racing schedule that does not include a Gulfstream Park West/Calder meet.

Calder opened May 6, 1971 with 16,263 fans in attendance and the handle was $712,931. The New York Times reported that the meet “got off to a flying start” and that there were so many people looking to get into the track that they had to close the gates and turn some would-be patrons away.

Calder bridged the gap between the winter and early spring meets that were held at Gulfstream and at Hialeah and ushered in an era of year-round racing in South Florida. While Calder was never as glamorous as the other tracks in the area, it satisfied a need and was a starting point for many successful jockeys, trainers and horses. In 2000, Calder inaugurated the “Summit of Speed” program, which featured several major stakes races, all of them sprints.

“Calder was a workingman’s racetrack and a lot of fine horses came from there that competed on all levels, whether it was Spend a Buck to a horse I had, Three Ring, who went on to win all sorts of graded stakes races,” said veteran trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. “My father was the second one through the backstretch gates when it first opened. A lot of people did great there and Calder launched the career of a lot of horsemen. Calder was a great place for me and my family. It gave us a lot of stability and it gave me time to be with my family. I am going to sorely miss it.”

Calder’s future changed directions when it was purchased for $87 million in 1999 by Churchill Downs. Over the years, Churchill has become increasingly less interested in racing and has been focusing on gaming. Following the end of the 2015 meet, Churchill had the grandstand torn down, leaving little behind but the racetrack itself.

In 2010, a casino opened at Calder. Florida law required Churchill to run a live racing meet of at least 40 days in order to keep its casino license, but Churchill found a loophole in the law and argued that any form of pari-mutuel wagering would satisfy the requirements for a casino. In May, 2019, Churchill opened a jai alai fronton, which is far less costly to operate than a racetrack, on the grounds. Four months later, a Florida Court upheld a decision by the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering that allowed Calder to tie its casino permit to jai alai. Horse racing was no longer needed.

“I feel that Churchill Downs didn’t do its best for horse racing,” trainer David Fawkes said. “They’ve done the same thing in Chicago with Arlington and to Hollywood Park. It’s sad because we all got on board to help them get their casino and once they got what they wanted, they were done with us.”

The Florida HBPA and other industry groups have continued the battle in the courts, hoping to reverse the decision that approved the casino-jai alai marriage. But Gulfstream management is proceeding as if racing will no longer continue at Calder after the meet ends Nov. 28.

“It”s the end of an era,”said Bill Badgett, the executive director of Florida Racing Operations for The Stronach Group.

Though overshadowed by Gulfstream, the abbreviated Calder meets served a purpose. It is difficult for any track to operate year-round, especially one that relies so heavily on turf racing, like Gulfstream does. The two months when racing was conducted at Calder were used to give Gulfstream a break and to prepare the turf course for the Championship Meet.

Badgett said that the plan is to operate Gulfstream year-round in 2021, but said that not all the Calder dates will be made up.

“We’re in the process right now of creating the calendar for 2021,” Badgett said. “Most likely, we will lose about 20 days out of the 40. The two months when we race over there is the time we get things ready here for the championship meet, with the turf. It could be that in November we possibly could race over the Breeders’ Cup days and take the rest of the month off and then get ready for the Championship Meet. That would give us almost three weeks off for the turf course. Maybe in October we’ll only run three days a week. We will try to run a few less turf races during October. It looks like we have a pretty good plan we’re going to be putting into place. To lose just 20 days, that doesn’t hurt you that much in the long run.”

The other issue is stabling. Badgett said that there are 450 horses currently stabled at Calder. Gulfstream has reached an agreement whereby the horses can stay at Calder until Apr. 1. By that time, he said, an expansion project will have been completed at Palm Meadows to house the Calder horses and the backstretch workers who care for those horses.

Badgett is a former trainer who raced some at Calder before he went into racetrack management. Like so many others in South Florida racing, he has a soft spot for old Calder Race Course.

“When they tore the grandstand down, that’s when everybody said that it was the beginning of the end,” he said. “It used to be a lot of fun to race there and they had great racing. I even remember running on Christmas Day there. But the game has changed and those days are long gone. It’s sad.”

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