Pennsylvania Breeder Awards Remain On Hold

The Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission Aug. 24 again postponed action on breeder and stallion award payments that haven't been paid since earlier this year because of ambiguous language in a new horseracing reform law, but an advocacy campaign by Thoroughbred breeders will expand in the coming days.

A large number of breeders attended a meeting in Harrisburg to again ask the PHRC to order that roughly $6 million in awards be paid. The Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association at the commission's July meeting offered an analysis by a prominent law firm that said the payments can be made under existing law.

The PHRC falls under the state Department of Agriculture, which believes payment of the awards would violate the law as written. According to a story at pennlive.com, Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding told breeders the department wants to restore the payments but "we can't ignore the words in the law."

The wording and parameters of the Thoroughbred breeding program were supposed to be transferred from previous horseracing law that had been in effect for more than 30 years, but the language somehow got changed.

"I think something good came out of the gathering Wednesday," Peter Giangiulio of Castle Rock Farm in Unionville, Pa., said Aug. 26. "We have a good relationship with the racing commission, so we stressed that people must be respectful. We have to look at the big picture."

PHBA representatives are expected to meet with lawmakers the week of Aug. 29 in advance of the legislative session in an attempt to facilitate the payments. 

The Thoroughbred breeding fund earns about $18 million a year from the casino slot machine-fueled Pennsylvania Race Horse Development Fund. Another $13 million for purses for restricted races and owners' bonuses for state-bred runners that win open races comes from the tracks and horsemen's purse accounts.

Giangiulio said breeder and sire awards last year totaled about $10 million. He noted, however, that most of the payments are made for the results of races run during peak periods such as the summer and fall.

"It's not just about $6 million for breeders," Giangiulio said. "That's also the amount of money that is currently out of the Pennsylvania economy."

Redding, according to pennlive.com, told breeders the department would examine whether award payments could be made only for registered Pennsylvania-bred horses by Pennsylvania stallions; that language in the new law is correct. Giangiulio, an attorney, said he believes such payments can be made by law.

The PHRC Aug. 24 did agree to send a letter to state lawmakers urging them to restore the award payments under what previous law prescribed for horses that finish first, second, or third: 30% for Pennsylvania-breds sired by Pennsylvania stallions, 20% for Pennsylvania-breds sired by out-of-state stallions, and 10% for owners of the progeny of Pennsylvania-based sires. Giangiulio noted that Redding indicated the percentage bonus related to sires may have to change as part of a legislative compromise.