Horsemen, breeders square off on funds allocation

Issue part of fallout from slots legislation

Barbara L. Salisbury⁄The Gazette Legislation adopted in the November special session to alter how purse money is divided between breeders and horse owners is being disputed. The Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association argues that the division should be restored to an 89-11 split. Featured Jobs See all jobs

For years, 89 percent of funds allocated to the Purse Dedication Account were directed to thoroughbred and standardbred purses, with the balance given to breeders, called in the industry a ‘‘bred fund.” The apportionment was changed to 85-15 during the special session over the objections of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association.

‘‘There has been a longstanding practice that whatever money was allocated to the industry was divided 89 to 11,” said Wayne W. Wright, the group’s executive secretary.

He noted that in 2006 his organization and the Maryland Horse Breeders Association signed a 15-year agreement, brokered by the Maryland Racing Commission, to maintain the 89-11 split.

‘‘You can’t change something once you agree to it,” Wright said.

The change could mean millions deducted from purses. A legislative analysis showed that in fiscal 2013, the 11 percent the bred fund would receive would be $8.4 million. At 15 percent, that figure is almost $11.6 million.

Sen. Nancy J. King (D-Dist. 39) of Montgomery Village is leading efforts to reinstate the former split, sponsoring a bill that will be heard in committee next week. The number was changed as part of the ‘‘horse-trading” that occurred to get slots on the ballot, she said, but the breeders’ proponents failed to support the legislation.

Still, lawmakers bowed to pressure from breeders who claimed a bigger cut was needed to rescue the state’s foundering thoroughbred industry, Wright alleged.

That’s horsefeathers, said Del. J.B. Jennings, a feed store owner who pushed for the change. He said it’s important that more money stay in Maryland and be invested in growing the industry, rather than paying off winning horses from outside the state.

‘‘My argument is we’re trying to promote Maryland ...” said Jennings (R-Dist. 7) of Phoenix, pointing to a campaign to buy local produce. ‘‘Here you have a program that’s going to promote Maryland agriculture, Maryland farms, Maryland horse production and we don’t want to fund it. We want to give the money to anyone who comes in here.”

With neighboring states investing more in homegrown thoroughbreds, Maryland breeders want an even larger take to remain competitive and bolster farm preservation programs.

‘‘It really takes a committed, dedicated community to do that,” said Cricket Goodall, executive director of the breeders association, which is fighting to uphold the new percentages.

And while it’s important to sweeten purses to attract racehorses from elsewhere, breeders keep the state’s horse racing industry alive, she said.

‘‘If you don’t have a strong bred fund, you don’t have any horses for your program,” Goodall said. ‘‘Somebody’s got to produce the horses and that’s what some people forget.”

But purse money benefits more Marylanders than does the bred fund, Wright said. And Maryland-bred stallions have struggled at the racetrack of late, winning only three of the 12 races run at last year’s Maryland Million, the breeders’ signature event.

The 2006 agreement aimed to make peace within the industry by reaffirming the split, Wright said. The breeders, by lobbying for a higher cut, have violated that pact, he said. ‘‘It was very unjust and very unfair to the entire industry.”

But there’s no guarantee that any of the purse money will trickle back to Maryland, Goodall said.

And that could cripple the state’s once-rich horse racing industry, Jennings said. ‘‘I see it every day and I know what this industry is going through, and this is the best way I know to fix it.”