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‘Treasure Of The Midwest’: New Media Project Highlights Indiana Thoroughbred Industry

It's time for the little guy to be in the spotlight, and that's exactly what Champions of the Track is looking to do with their new multimedia project titled Treasure of the Midwest.

Champions of the Track is a digital media company based in Indiana with the sole purpose to promote horse racing around the world. With a strong love of the sport, the small team brings an “outsider's perspective” to the sport, hoping to encourage more “outsiders” to fall in love right along with them.

Treasure of the Midwest is a partnership between Champions of the Track, the Indiana Thoroughbred Alliance, Indiana Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and Indiana Grand Racing & Casino to promote the breeding and racing of Thoroughbred horses in Indiana. The project will consist of a YouTube series showcasing some of the state's farms and horsemen, as well as written stories of Indiana-bred horses. The three-person team is currently visiting farms and Indiana Grand to gather stories and share the enthusiasm.

“Indiana offers such a large financial benefit to breeders, stallion owners and racehorse owners who choose to participate in the Indiana Thoroughbred Breed Development Program,” says Kaeli Bartholomew, owner and creative director for Champions of the Track. “Indiana's horseracing industry is a well-kept secret that we want to spread nationwide.”

One of the first Indiana farms featured was Springcliff Farm, owned by Christine Cagle in Martinsville, Indiana. In 2021, alone, Springcliff has foaled 50 future racehorses. The farm was originally established in 1864 by the Thomas family. The beautiful farm is adorned with red barns and several lush, green pastures dotted with healthy and happy broodmares and foals.

“I just love what I do, even with the long hours during foaling season,” says Cagle. “Indiana doesn't get as much credit for its racing program as we should. We're always growing. In fact, I have breeders from as far as across the globe sending their mares here to foal and be part of the program.

“Having this multimedia push from Kaeli and Champions of the Track will be such a help for the little breeders, owners and horsemen who maybe can't afford their own marketing plans,” Cagle continues. “It was a no-brainer for us to participate and to support this endeavor.”

Horses such as the beautiful gray filly, Piedi Bianchi, are also part of the highlights. Indiana-bred Piedi Bianchi stormed on the racing scene as a 2-year-old racing in California. She finished in the top five in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in 2017 and has sense raced from California to Indiana to Florida, earning more than $610,000 in lifetime earnings for her owners. Veteran supporters of the Indiana program, Deann and Greg Baer, DVM, bred the super filly and have been excited to follow her progress.

“It's been a lot of fun, racing this filly,” owner Jay Oringer told Bartholomew. “It's exciting for my whole family and group of friends in Queens, New York, to follow her. She has a lot of fans!”

More information can be found on the Champions of the Track website (www.champsofthetrack.com) and on their social media platforms.

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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.”

The post Florida Legislature Hands Sports Betting To Seminoles, Permits Non-Thoroughbred Tracks To Decouple From Gaming appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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New York: Newly-Amended Clenbuterol Rule Goes Into Effect June 2

The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) voted Monday to amend its rules for the use of clenbuterol in New York State to follow the model proposed by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC). These rules will go into effect state-wide, including at all three New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) tracks – Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course and Aqueduct Racetrack – as of June 2.

The full text of the rules for the NYSGC's amendment for the use of clenbuterol in thoroughbred racing [Rule 4043.12(b)(6)] can be found at https://www.gaming.ny.gov/proposedrules.php.

As a reminder, as of January 1, the use of Furosemide (Lasix) is prohibited within 48 hours of all stakes races conducted at NYRA tracks, including the Belmont Stakes.

In April of 2019, NYRA led the formation of a coalition of leading racing organizations founded to address race day medication in a uniform and consistent way throughout the sport. The initiative commenced on January 1, 2020, with NYRA prohibiting Lasix in all 2-year-old races at the three NYRA tracks.

Live racing at the 48-day Belmont Park spring/summer meet continues Thursday with a nine-race card. First post is 3:05 p.m. Eastern.

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Despite Boycott Threat, Monmouth Doesn’t Expect Jockey Shortage Over New Whip Rules

The strictest whip rules in the country will see their first use on May 28, opening day at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, NJ. Instituted by the state's racing commission, the rules allow jockeys to use the whip when needed for safety reasons.

According to the Asbury Park Press, some jockeys have threatened to boycott the 2021 meet at Monmouth, with several regular NJ riders indicating plans to head elsewhere on social media.

“I wouldn't say it's a boycott. It's a decision,” Terry Mayocks, president and CEO of the Jockeys' Guild, told APP earlier this month. “We had a meeting when the stay was denied and just explained it to everyone and the process we've gone through the last year-and-a-half, and everyone basically said we don't feel comfortable. And if they can stay in Florida or go to other racetracks, that's an individual decision they will have to make.”

Dennis Drazin, chairman and CEO of Darby Development LLC, which operates Monmouth Park, isn't concerned, saying: “We expect to have enough riders to put on the show and I think we will be successful.”

The purse structure at Monmouth will draw jockeys from other states if positions are open, Drazin continued.

In addition, Drazin has spoken with Meyocks about repercussions for jockeys accepting mounts at Monmouth and then not showing up to ride, forcing cancellation of racing.

“The Racing Commission would have the power to bring them in and give them a hearing and suspend them for conduct detrimental to racing and then they can't ride anywhere in the country, because there's reciprocity between racing commissions,” Drazin explained.