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.”

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Gulfstream’s New Tapeta Track Makes It Unique Among American Racetracks

With the installation of its Tapeta racing surface nearing completion, Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., will become the first pari-mutuel facility in the Americas with three distinct racing surfaces.

Workers began laying the Tapeta over the base of the track late last week. Horses will begin jogging and galloping on the Tapeta after the inner safety rail is installed. Races are expected to be carded on the all-weather surface beginning the week of Sept. 23.

The multi-million-dollar project, which also includes a new drainage system, will provide Gulfstream with three racing surfaces – a 1 1/8-mile dirt track, a 7/8-mile turf course, and a mile-and-70-yard Tapeta track.

The installation of the Tapeta track continues 1/ST Racing and Gulfstream Park's commitment to the safety of its athletes and its investment in state-of-the-art technology.

“The Tapeta surface is a truly exciting addition to Gulfstream Park,” said Aidan Butler, COO of 1/ST Racing. “The three unique surfaces plus the new drainage system will allow many options for the horsemen, provide bettors interesting wagering opportunities, and protect our turf course during inclement weather. We are very much looking forward to this new chapter in Gulfstream's history and thank everyone for all their hard work in getting it done.”

“The new Tapeta track is a significant advancement for Gulfstream Park,” Florida HBPA President Stephen Screnci said. “It creates flexibility that will benefit our horsemen in a number of ways. It will be easier to preserve the turf course. There will be more opportunities to run when races are rained off the turf, and more options in the condition book. Perhaps most important, fewer scratches in off-the-turf races generates increased handle and increased purses. This is good news for South Florida racing.”

Video:  https://youtu.be/k1_L6FxblbM

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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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TOBA Names Officers, Five New Trustees To Board

The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association announced today the re-election of Brant Laue as chairman of its Board of Trustees. Also joining Laue on the Board of Trustees to serve three-year terms as new members are Shannon Bishop Arvin, Jeffrey Bloom, Marette Farrell, Dr. J. David Richardson and Stephen Screnci.

Re-elected to three-year terms were current trustees Robert Devlin, Terry Finley, Brant Laue, Bernard McCormack, Charlie O'Connor and Garrett O'Rourke.

“I am honored to serve another term as chair with this board of trustees,” Laue said. “Our great sport has overcome many obstacles and difficulties in the past, and with their help and support we will again.”

Following its annual members meeting, the TOBA Board of Trustees met to elect officers for the association. Officers named for 2020-2021 are: Brant Laue, chairman, David O'Farrell, vice-chairman, Dan Metzger, president; Doug Cauthen, secretary; and Greg Bensel, treasurer.

The TOBA Board also approved the reappointment of Craig Bernick to the American Graded Stakes Committee. The 2020-2021 committee is comprised of TOBA members Everett Dobson (chair), Barbara Banke, Reynolds Bell, Jr., Craig Bernick, Walker Hancock, and J. Michael O'Farrell and racing officials Kevin Greely (Indiana Grand), Steve Lym (Santa Anita Park), Ben Huffman (Churchill Downs and Keeneland), Martin Panza (NYRA) and Thomas Robbins (Del Mar).

TOBA, based in Lexington, Ky., was formed in 1961 and is a national trade organization of leading Thoroughbred breeders and owners. TOBA's mission is to improve the economics, integrity and pleasure of the sport on behalf of Thoroughbred owners and breeders. Projects managed by TOBA include the American Graded Stakes Committee, Claiming Crown, Ownership Seminars, Breeding, Conformation & Pedigree Clinics, TOBA Owners Concierge and the Sales Integrity Program. TOBA, in collaboration with The Jockey Club, has also created a free information resource called OwnerView to provide pertinent information to new, prospective and current Thoroughbred owners. TOBA provides international representation for U.S. owners and breeders on the International Grading and Race Planning Advisory Committee, International Cataloguing Standards Committee and International Breeders Federation. Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA) is the charitable arm of TOBA. TOBA Media Properties, a subsidiary of TOBA, owns The Horse magazine, Eclipse Press and is co-owner of The Blood-Horse LLC. TOBA is represented on the board of directors of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium as founding members.

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