Florida HBPA to Contribute $2 million to Supplement Purses for Florida-breds

[Wandering Eyes]

In an effort to create greater opportunities for Florida-breds, the Florida HBPA will put up $2 million that will go toward both raising purses for Florida-breds and creating new stakes races for horses bred in the Sunshine State.

Owners and trainers with Florida-breds will have their first opportunity to collect a portion of the $2 million Apr. 25 when six state-bred stakes races, each worth $100,000, will be offered on the Gulfstream card.

The HBPA's decision to promote and fund Florida-bred stakes races comes after the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association  announced what it called the “unfortunate failure” to reach an agreement with Gulfstream Park and the Florida HBPA (FHBPA), which led to the cancellation of the traditional Florida Sire Stakes (FSS) series. The FTBOA shifted its focus to what it called a new $1-million Florida Sire Racing Incentive Program for 2026, which provides financial incentives to owners and breeders of FSS-eligible 2-year-olds at Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs.

Thanks to the contribution from the Florida HBPA, Florida-bred 2-year-olds will still be able be to compete in lucrative races in the late summer and fall. On Sept. 5, there will be two $150,000 races, one for 2-year-old fillies and the other for 2-year-old colts. On Oct. 3, Florida-bred juveniles will compete in two races, each worth $250,000.

Unlike the Florida Sires Stakes series, which were open only to horses who were by Florida-based sires, the HBPA races will be open to all horses considered Florida-breds. There will be 12 HBPA-funded races under this format.

In addition, after the current “Championship Meet” is over, purses for Florida-bred maidens will see an increase. Races for 2-year-old Florida-bred maidens will go from $53,000 to $65,000. The purses for maidens that are 3-years-old or older will jump from $43,000 to $65,000.

“We're trying to do what we can to make the Florida-breds more prominent,” said Florida HBPA President Tom Cannell. “For the folks with Florida-breds, we want to give them a place to race and to make it worthwhile for them. We hope that will keep some of the folks here rather than having them travel for the summer. Maybe some of the folks from Tampa who generally trek north will have more opportunities to run with us in the summer.”

Cannell said the timing was right to get the message out about the increased purses.

“We want to get the word out because the first 2-year-old sale is in the books, but we still have the OBS April and OBS June sales coming up,” he said. “There will be great opportunities for people who want to pick up Florida-bred 2-year-olds.”

Amid efforts by Gulfstream to have legislation passed that would no longer require it to hold live racing in order to keep its slots operation going, a process known as decoupling, the horsemen and Gulfstream announced in December that a three-year agreement had been reached that guaranteed that racing would continue at the South Florida track through, at least, 2028.

“With that new contract in place, we are trying to fill some holes to make it more attractive for people to race in Florida,” Cannell said.

Cannell said his group is contemplating other options that would help bolster South Florida racing and purses at Gulfstream.

“This is just the beginning,” he said. “We're going to do everything we can to upgrade the entire racing program purse-wise. We may not be able to get to the levels they have in Kentucky, but we're going to try to be as competitive as we can for people who want to race in this part of the country.”

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