Page 87 - Speedhorse December 2019

The success of Trump My Record (shown winning the Texas Classic Futurity-G1) in 2019 is proof of Texas breeders being committed to raising high-quality horses. The 2-year-old Texas-bred gelding won eight races and finished second once in 10 starts while earning $791,153.
with casino gaming, created the situation that Werstler referred to as the “death spiral.”
“Then it came down to where the tracks were additionally charged the more race days they ran, the more they were charging,” Werstler said. “So racetracks didn’t want to give up their licenses, but they couldn’t afford to run as many race days.
“The last two years, we ran 20 days at Houston; 12 days last year and 14 this year at Retama; and 16 days at Lone Star,” he added. “Well that isn’t going to support a racing industry. Now you’ve got less days, so there’s going to be less gambling, so there’s less purses and there’s less accredited Texas-bred money. It’s not going to get any better. You’re not going to crawl out of that. It’s a death spiral.”
In June, Governor Abbott also signed into
law a second piece of racing legislation relating to the deposit and distribution by the Texas Racing Commission of certain pari-mutuel wagering funds to benefit the Texas-bred program. Recognizing
the strain that licensing fees put on the industry to fund the Texas Racing Commission, this new law will divert 1 percent of the simulcast tax from the general fund to the Commission as well as 1.25 percent of each cross-species pari-mutuel pool. This will equate to about $2.8 million and allow the Commission to restructure racetrack license fees.
Accredited Texas-Bred funds will be taken
out of the Texas Racing Commission budget and an escrow account will be established for that money to ensure the incentive fund is protected and delivered to the audience targeted by the Legislature. This will more accurately reflect the actual budget of the Texas Racing Commission. This will also reduce the costs to the Texas Racing Commission and the fees it assesses to the Texas racing industry stakeholders it licenses.
“Politics is politics, but for a while there it felt like politicians were just acting like, ‘Don’t
go away mad, just go away,’” Werstler said. “Kudos to the legislators for at least reaching out and saying, ‘How can we help you?’ The governor signed the bill, which he didn’t have to. He could have just let it become law. We’re really excited for that.”
Once again in Texas, there is hope. Industry leaders are optimistic these new laws will be
a kickstart to the industry, and lead to more horses and therefore more taxes and more purses and so on and so forth.
“I could see us up 50 percent probably through the first cycle,” Werstler predicts. “And what people need to understand and what we definitely have to educate legislators about is, when this law passed these horses were already
on the ground or were already bred come June 1. So the babies that are going to be born in 2020, this money was not available when those horses were first matching up those breedings. Now we will see how well we do in 2020, looking ahead to next year for ’21 foals and see what that number is. I wouldn’t be surprised if we doubled, but I think we’ll be up 50 percent for sure.”
The breeders who stayed through the tough times will reap the early benefits through the Texas-bred program.
“You still have to produce a horse that’s going to be fast enough to go get some of the money,” Werstler said. “I think that’s an incentive to breed faster, better horses so you can really take advantage of all of this.”
Werstler is hopeful the new purse money will be incentive to keep horses in the state after their race careers are finished.
“We had horses that were accredited Texas- breds sold in our sale, ran mainly in Texas, and then went to Louisiana or Oklahoma to stand as a stud because it’s so much more lucrative in those states,” Werstler remarked. “I’ve said this
several times and especially to legislators back when we were trying to get something done, ‘If this was any other state, these farms would have already folded.’ I think it’s just the tradition that saved some of the farms and ranches – Four Sixes wasn’t going to go anywhere, and Granada wasn’t going anywhere. But you know they lost stallions, and it was very difficult. But if it wasn’t for Texans’ hardheadedness and pride in Texas, I don’t think they would have survived.”
Now the future is looking brighter.
“Twenty-twenty is going to be so exciting,” Werstler said. “I mean the last few years, it’s been tough for us, too, because we’re the ones who answer the phone, and we have to listen to the complaining. Now it looks like next year it’ll be the opposite.”
Werstler foresees complaining not for lack of purses, but lack of space.
“James Leatherman (racing secretary at Sam Houston Race Park) is already getting beat
up because I think he’s gotten 4,000 horses applying for 2,000 stalls for his Thoroughbred meet,” Werstler continued. “Those are good problems to have. It’s a lot better to have people complaining because they didn’t get enough stalls than having empty barns.”
Werstler pointed to the success of Trump My Record in 2019 as proof of Texas breeders being committed to raising high-quality horses. The 2-year- old Texas-bred gelding won eight races and finished second once in 10 starts while earning $791,153.
“Texas has always had places like Fulton Quien Sabe, who always produced the best of the best,” Werstler said. “But the fact that Trump My Record and what he did this year after coming out of our TQHA Sale and winning the Texas Classic, that goes to show you that Texas still produces some pretty nice horses and, hopefully, we will just produce a lot more now.”
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