Texas Racing Commission Allows Breed Registries To Access Funding For Purses, For Now

[Wandering Eyes]

Despite a state auditor's report last summer which found major discrepancies with Texas Racing Commission record-keeping practices, during a scheduled meeting on Wednesday, Feb 12, the horse racing regulator voted 5-1 to temporarily allow the state breed registries to access their portion of the Horse Industry Escrow Account (HIEA) to channel money to purses.

For Thoroughbreds, that means that requests by organizations like the Texas Thoroughbred Association (TTA) will be able to contribute to the current Sam Houston Race Park meeting's purse structure. However, the commission has not sanctioned the allocation of funds past April, which means that extra cash for Lone Star Park prize money will have to be presented at the Apr. 9 commission meeting and voted upon.

One of the many issues that the summer audit uncovered was a lack of an organized paper trail, especially when it pertained to verifying that racetrack associations actually spent the allocated funds on purse prize payments. Since the inception of the HIEA in 2019, 70% of $25 million in funding has gone to the state's tracks and the remaining 30% to breed representatives like the TTA.

Over the past five years, the registries, which include Thoroughbreds, Arabians, Quarter Horses, and Paints, have by-and-large chosen to request funds that augment purses because the money attracts better entries, finances stakes and produces larger fields in the Lone Star State. That is precisely why Texas racing was flourishing about the time that COVID-19 hit in 2020.

Commissioner Sid Miller | TXRC WEB

The central issue for the racing commission concerning the HIEA allotments is over the original intent of the law. Some commissioners like Sid Miller say that the money for the breed registries is only to be used for “non-racing events.” If that is the case, the funding cannot be applied to purses. But that is exactly the precedent that has been set.

In the wake of the audit, Chairman Robert C. Pate and Executive Director Amy Cook have talked tough in commission meetings about how to address what potentially could be a major hit to the industry. They are between a proverbial 'rock and a hard place' and after last Wednesday's meeting no definitive decisions have been made.

“So our moment in time ladies and gentlemen is if we are told by the State Auditor… are you running this correctly in accordance with state law, state public fund management practices, grant practices, are you going to fix it now or are you going to continue that?” said Cook in the Dec. 11 commission meeting. “My recommendation is that we fix it now. And that doesn't mean we don't try to mitigate the impact on everyone, but we must change or I do believe the program will be jeopardized.”

The PENN Entertainment-owned Sam Houston Race Park responded to the uncertainty created by the commission in late December by slashing purses and racing one less day through Feb. 16. Vice President and General Manager Bryan Pettigrew said in an email that the track could not count on the money provided by the breed registry account.

With the Sam Houston meet in full swing starting Jan. 5, the breed registries sought access to the account by presenting their cases at last Wednesday's commission meeting. Miller arrived late and was the only one of the commissioners to vote against allowing Sam Houston to have access to the extra purse money.

The TTA took the advice of some of the commissioners and Cook to devise ways in which to ask for funding in creative ways. In a press release late Friday afternoon, they rolled out a new program for the current meet at Sam Houston.

Sam Houston breed registry HIEA account money | Coady Photography

In order to reward what they call “the hard-working horses that make up allowance and claiming races,” the TTA program at the end of the Sam Houston meet rewards the top twelve accredited Texas-breds by money earned [excluding any purse money earned in stakes races]. The TTA said that by removing funds garnered in stakes races, day race horses have a chance of earning more.

“Providing owners with a realistic opportunity for increased earnings will keep these horses and their owners in the game,” said TTA Executive Director Tracy Sheffield. “When the program was explained to him, a commission employee said “Oh, rewards for blue collar horses–that's great!”

With opening day at Lone Star Park set for Apr. 17, the much-maligned Texas Racing Commission–who has spurned oversight from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority and not allowed tracks to beam their signal for wagering out of state–is facing yet another crisis.

In 2021, the legislature nearly sent the regulator to be overseen by Texas's Department of Agriculture after the Sunset Commission in Senate Bill 704 recommended the switch. The failure of that bill kept the commission intact, but only until 2027.

The post Texas Racing Commission Allows Breed Registries To Access Funding For Purses, For Now appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article