March 31, 2014 Kent Stirling, Executive Director   URGENT CALL TO ACTION:  We Need Any Horsemen In the Ocala/Marion County Area On Tuesday, April 1 to Attend and Speak at the Marion County Commission Meeting at 9 a.m.   In the wake of Gretna “pari-mutuel barrel racing,” “flag-drops” and other contrived events designed to skirt...Read More

Kathy Davey, Secretary Meeting led by P.J. Campo Beginning Sunday March 30 two-year-olds can be trained after the 1st break. Management will look into putting up a “minutes to post” clock in the paddock area. Stall allotment letters will be going out over the next few days. Management expects approximately 1500 horses on the grounds...Read More

Kathy Davey, Secretary   Update on the Turf Course – Lab results indicate deficiencies in Nitrogen and Potassium in the samples. These deficiencies will be addressed.  Target date to reopen the turf course is April 19, which is the date of the Miami Mile. The NTRA accreditation is on track. A new area they are...Read More

The following editorial opinion by FHBPA President Phil Combest was published in the Sun-Sentinel on March 11, 2014     Horse racing in Florida is a billion-dollar industry.  Its huge economic impact is much larger, for example, than another, much-coveted leisure industry–spring training baseball.   Horse racing employs many thousands of Floridians year ’round all...Read More

Kent H. Stirling, FHBPA Executive Director   March 4, 2014   As the Florida Senate Gaming Committee began deliberation on hundreds of pages of proposed new gambling and pari-mutuel laws at its meeting on March 3, 2014, word of a strange construction project in South Marion County has the area near The Villages buzzing about...Read More

February 26, 2014 By Kent H. Stirling   At the National HBPA Convention in Pasadena during our Horsemen’s Roundtable Forum, Joe Morris,   President of the Thoroughbred Owners of California  (TOC),  was lamenting that race weeks had shrunk from sometimes six race days,  to five days and now most race weeks were four days long.  I...Read More

Kent H. Stirling February 20, 2014   It seems the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) and the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI or just RCI) were in a great hurry to institute the adoption of the “Terrific 24” Controlled Therapeutic Substances throughout the United States by January 1, 2014.  It was also hoped...Read More

Meeting led by P.J. Campo ~ 22 attendees   Update on South Florida Racing.  No deal yet.  Talks continue on both the local and corporate levels.   Track/barn/stall Issues: Color of “Loose horse” warning lights will be changed to “Red.” Two-year-olds will be allowed in after trainers talk with PJ and there is room in...Read More

Meeting led by P.J. Campo ~ 30 attendees Update on South Florida Racing. No deal yet.  Talks get close or agreement is reached at the local level, then Churchill doesn’t accept them.  Stay tuned. Track/barn/stall Issues: Possibility that the new chute and path for horses in Barns 21 and 22 will be widened, rather than...Read More

December 5, 2012   Gulfstream Park announced today they will ease the hardship of horsemen staled at Calder Race Course by paying the stall rent of horses who participate at its meet during the month of December.     FHBPA’S Answers to Calder’s Stall Fee Q & A   QUESTION ONE:  What prompted the introduction...Read More