Joe Orseno to be Interim President of Florida HBPA

The 2022 election for the board of the Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) has concluded with trainer Joe Orseno slated to serve as interim president. He replaces Stephen Screnci, who did not run for reelection.

Reelected to the board of directors are owner Adam Lazarus and trainers Orseno, Kathy Davey, and Terri Pompay. New to the board is owner David Rousso. Troy Levy and Ralph Nicks have stepped down. The remainder of the board consists of owners Chester Bishop, Thomas Cannell, and Teresa Palmer, as well as trainers Patrick Biancone, David Fawkes, and Ron Spatz.

The new board will take office at the next board meeting Mar. 24. New officers will be named at that time.

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Candidates for ’22 FHBPA Election Announced

Nine nominees have been selected for the upcoming 2022 Florida Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association election, to be held Mar. 15, 2022. Nominations were submitted during the FHBPA's annual general nominating meeting and awards dinner at Gulfstream Park Dec. 11. The nine candidates are owners Brad Beilly, Adam Lazarus, Troy Levy, David Rousso and Stephen Screnci; and trainers Kathy Davey, Michael Lerman, Joe Orseno and Terri Pompay.

The FHBPA is supervised and managed by a Board of 15 Directors. Six seats are reserved for Owner/Directors, and six seats are reserved for Trainer/Directors. Three Directors may be either an owner or a trainer. The Board of Directors is divided into three groups of five Directors, known as Groups 1, 2, and 3. Elections are held annually, and the terms of all Directors shall be three years.

Candidates must be licensed owners or trainers in good standing and must have started a horse five or more times during the 12 months immediately preceding the election date.

Voting for the 2022 FHBPA Election will begin in late January. Each member of the FHBPA who is currently licensed as an owner and/or trainer and is in good standing is entitled to cast one ballot in the general election.

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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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