TRI

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green are back from Ocala, and dive into the statistics from HISA’s 2024 metrics report. Racing fatalities at HISA-run tracks were nearly half of those at the non-HISA tracks, proving that the system is working in keeping horses safer, and for the first time, we have data on training-related fatalities.

The Florida House of Representatives’ Commerce Committee recently approved House Bill 105 with a 13-7 vote, moving it to the House floor for further consideration. This bill proposes to “decouple” live horse racing from casino operations, allowing venues like Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs to maintain gaming licenses without hosting live races.

The Florida House of Representatives’ Commerce Committee recently approved House Bill 105 with a 13-7 vote, moving it to the House floor for further consideration. This bill proposes to “decouple” live horse racing from casino operations, allowing venues like Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs to maintain gaming licenses without hosting live races.

On March 17, 2025, the Florida House Commerce Committee approved House Bill 105 with a 13-8 vote, moving it to the House floor for further consideration. This legislation proposes allowing thoroughbred racetracks, such as Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs, to operate casino gaming without the obligation to conduct live horse racing—a process known as “decoupling.”

The Florida horse racing community is grappling with a legislative proposal that threatens the future of live racing at Gulfstream Park. House Bill 105 and Senate Bill 408 aim to “decouple” live racing requirements from casino operations, allowing Gulfstream Park’s parent company, 1/ST Racing and Gaming, to operate its casino without conducting live horse races. This move has raised alarms among industry stakeholders who fear significant economic and cultural repercussions.

David O’Farrell, a third-generation Florida horseman and general manager of Ocala Stud, warns that House Bill 105 and Senate Bill 408 threaten Florida’s thoroughbred racing industry by allowing Gulfstream Park’s parent company to operate a casino without live racing.

Prominent 2-year-old trainer and consignor Randy Hartley of Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds shares just how labor intensive the industry is and that decoupling legislation (HB 105/SB 408) threatens this major Florida industry.

Powerful testimony from veterinarian Bill Russell, a partner in Ocala’s Peterson Smith Equine Hospital, at the March 17 Florida House Commerce Committee hearing on HB 105. The decoupling bill would allow Gulfstream Park to retain its gaming licenses without having live horse racing.

Chester Bishop, vice president of the 5,000-member Florida Thoroughbred Horsemen, is a Thoroughbred owner and breeder, who lives in Palm Beach County, works in Broward County and boards his mares Marion County.

“Please consider not only the economic impact but the family impact this bill would have on our beautiful state and its beautiful rural and agricultural communities.” That’s FTBOA member Teresa Palmer, who with her husband owns and operates a 125-acre breeding and training facility in Morriston, Fla.