Letters: A Florida Plan, Smarty Jones Hall Finalist

Florida Needs Long-Term Plan

Florida's horse racing and gaming laws are complex and challenging to follow. However, a legislative solution is on the table to save and significantly improve Florida racing and breeding. 

As someone who has worked in the Thoroughbred industry for more than 25 years, including for the Stronach family at Magna Entertainment, Gulfstream Park, and Adena Springs, I have a unique perspective and remember well what Florida racing and breeding once was. In my law practice, I represent racetracks, trade associations, sales companies, owners, breeders, and trainers, across North America including Florida, but I care deeply about the broader state of the industry.

Over the past 20 years, while the North American Thoroughbred foal crop declined by 50%, the Florida Thoroughbred foal crop declined by an alarming 82%. This accelerated drop in Florida corresponds quite clearly with the passage of slots in 2005 and a failure to evolve how Florida prioritizes the breeding and owning of its Thoroughbreds.

Fortunately, horsemen and women seem to have a strong ally in the Florida Legislature. According to the publication Florida Horse, the legislature recently passed a $66 million breeding and racing stimulus package. It's critically important for the industry to continue to work with legislators such as Senator Stan McClain and Appropriations Chairman Lawrence McClure, and this year's bill sponsors Senator Danny Burgess and Representative Adam Anderson. 

The goal of any changes to Florida law should be to re-establish the strength of Florida racing and breeding.

Florida racing plays a critical role in the racing calendar, offering horses and trainers breaking, racing, training, and sales opportunities year-round and in the winter months particularly. Florida is essential to trainers' programs as there are not enough available stalls at the other tracks and training centers in warmer climates to accommodate a relocation of all Florida strings; this includes the invaluable stretch of Florida winter races as preps and points-earning races for the Kentucky Derby (G1).

Because the laws around racing and gaming in Florida are complicated, so is the solution. There is ongoing dissent between the men and women who breed and train Florida horses. The current requirement that pari-mutuel permit holders have third party agreements with the Florida (horsemen) and breeders to operate slots leads unsurprisingly to stand-offs and disputes. A better solution may be to move this responsibility to the newly established Florida Gaming Control Commission, which should be a more neutral arbiter. The industry should carefully monitor the appointment of FGCC commissioners to ensure they are neutral and without conflicts—similar to gaming commission appointments in other jurisdictions. 

The proposed legislation calling for the immediate and complete "uncoupling" of racing from gaming licenses is unworkable for the industry and frankly reckless. Instead, a planned phase down of this relationship could eventually eliminate the subsidies and offer a predictable ramp down for the horse industry. The FGCC could administer the phase down of the slot machine revenue share for horse racing and breeding over a predictable timeframe.

For example, the FGCC could administer the revenue share with a 1% phase down in each of the next 10 years (from 10% to zero). However, this must be accomplished with a corresponding upside for the horse industry.

Current law requires only 40 days of racing to operate slot machines, poker, and simulcasting. Gulfstream currently races 200 days on which countless horsemen and women rely for their livelihood. Should the Florida legislature permit the Stronach family to develop Gulfstream and retain its gaming entitlements, it should similarly mandate a phase-down of race days similar to the proposed phase-down of slot machines subsidies over a corresponding period. Consider a modest reduction each year over 10 years to help the industry transition and reach equilibrium with a renewed focus on breeding and Florida owners' incentives during that period. Quality over quantity.

These recommendations should correspond with an overhaul of the faltering Florida-Bred Incentive Fund, perhaps using the very successful Kentucky Thoroughbred Breeders' Incentive Fund as a model. It just announced 2024 Breeders Incentive Awards of $20 million. Florida should also consider using some of the funds recently secured from the Florida Legislature to offer stallion relocation payments to stallion owners willing to move their stallions to Florida from other jurisdictions.

The FGCC could also administer these programs with input from the Florida Department of Agriculture and industry stakeholders. Thoroughbred breeding should be a big business, a significant employer, and a fundamental agricultural industry in the state.

Should the FGCC oversee these programs, it should be tasked with providing annual updates to the legislature and recommending a continued way forward focused on the health and growth of the Thoroughbred industry by 2034. The Florida horse industry is too important to Florida and the national industry not to consider all possible options and plot out a careful solution. 

Laura D'Angelo

Partner, Dinsmore & Shohl

Lexington

Chapman Grateful for Smarty Consideration

It is hard to find the appropriate words to express my deep gratitude to the Hall of Fame committee for nominating Smarty Jones as a finalist on this year's ballot.

This is an extreme honor for this great horse who ran his way into the hearts of so many people. He brought scores of new fans into the world of Thoroughbred racing. I can't tell you how many people who have said and still do, that Smarty is the first racehorse they ever watched and fell in love with.

He started his career late in 2003 at Philadelphia Park, a "blue-collar track," and won his way into Triple Crown races via Oaklawn Park where the first of many "Smarty Parties" took place. They loved him and adopted him as their own. Oaklawn Park has since become one of the main paths to the Triple Crown races.

This horse came along at a time when our country was still reeling and recovering after 9/11. He gave us all something to feel good about and to root for, the "underdog" from Philly, the wrong side of the tracks. He carried with him an older gentleman in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank, a trainer, a jockey, a veterinarian, and me. We all had to buckle up for a ride none of us will ever forget.

Smarty gave hope, courage, and inspiration to multitudes after his recovery from a near career-ending injury. Smarty ran and won on sloppy tracks and fast tracks at nine different distances and won eight of those nine times. He was on Time magazine's list of most influential "people" in 2004 and graced the cover of Sports Illustrated and numerous other publications. His 11 1/2-length Preakness Stakes (G1) victory remains the largest in the race's 149-year history and sent 120,000 fans to Belmont Park to witness the Belmont Stakes (G1).

On behalf of the Chapman/Hayden family and Team Smarty, I want to thank all of the fans, the sports writers, and commentators who have believed in Smarty Jones and have kept his memory alive and well. A special thanks goes out to ALL who have played a part in the newest documentary: "Ride of a Lifetime, The Smarty Jones Story."

An emotional and heartfelt THANK YOU!

Pat Chapman

Someday Farm 

Proud of Smarty

On behalf of the Chapman family, the PTHA, PHBA, Parx Racing, and racing fans all over the world, we wish to thank the Hall of Fame nominating committee for selecting Smarty Jones to be a 2025 finalist for the Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Everybody at Parx and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania is proud of our brilliant Pennsylvania-bred Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, a horse that captured the hearts and imagination of millions of people in the United States and around the world.

As the voters consider Smarty's candidacy, we would like to thank them for their due diligence.

Bob Hutt

President of the PTHA

Washington Crossing, Penn.