By Jennie Rees
LAS VEGAS–Horsemen working with racetrack ownership to better the sport for both sides was a recurring theme during Wednesday's opening day discussions at the National HBPA Convention in the South Point Hotel and Casino.
Leading the chorus was Corey Johnsen, a horseman as well as the president and part-owner of Kentucky Downs, the latest in his long career in racetrack management. Johnsen was the convention's keynote speaker and also on a panel entitled “Horsemen's Relations: Building Positive Momentum Working Together.”
“My main message today is simple,” he said. “By working together, we can improve the sport and generate more revenue.”
Kentucky Downs–thanks to the innovative historical horse racing that can provide the feel of playing a slot machine but which utilizes pari-mutuel technology–offers the highest purses in North America for maiden and allowance races and paid out $7.8 million for last year's five-date meet. In an agreement with the Kentucky HBPA, Kentucky Downs also transferred $1.35 million to Ellis Park's purse account, resulting in that track's best season in years.
But Johnsen, speaking during the panel discussion, said the Kentucky HBPA, before anyone knew what historical horse racing might generate, helped out by agreeing to loan back part of the horsemen's cut from the first year of historical horse racing back to invest in the facility.
“Frankly, it wasn't a lot of money,” he said. “But, just as important, was that I was able to go to my partners and say, 'Look, the horsemen believe in this.' So we were able to convince our partners to invest the money, and the rest is history.”
The later panel on horsemens' relations featured Johnsen, Canterbury Park co-owner Randy Sampson and Mike Rogers, president of The Stronach Group's Racing and Gaming Division. While they represent success stories for track-horsemen collaboration, the panel moderator was Frank Petramalo, executive director and general counsel for the Virginia HBPA. Virginia currently has no Thoroughbred flat racing after Colonial Downs shut down three years ago when the horsemen wouldn't agree to run only six days.
After Canterbury was closed for a year, Sampson led the group of horse owners and breeders buying the Minnesota track. “The first thing we did was sit down with the HBPA and say, 'Hey, we're all in this together. For us to make this leap, there has to be some compromise, some ways we work together,'” he said.
Sampson said horsemen should work with their track on legislation and regulatory issues, marketing and backside spending. He said tracks are not encouraged to spend money on marketing ventures to drive increased handle and capital improvement when they put up all the money but then split resulting revenue.
“We've done promotions with our horsemen and say, 'If we each put up $500 and can turn that $1,000 into $1,500, it's a winner for everybody… But in general, the marketing funding is not set up in a way to encourage tracks to spend money on marketing because they only get half of whatever the upside is.”
Sampson said Canterbury added stalls, installed an equine swimming pool and improved their training track by the horsemen putting up part of the money.
“Horsemen can say, 'That's not our responsibility. We're not going to contribute.' And that's generally the model. I would ask you, 'How is that working out for you?” he said. “… One way of addressing that, if you're able to get Corey's historical horse racing or some other form of increased racing revenue, don't have it a two-way split between purses and track revenue. Have a three-way split, carve out an infrastructure piece of that.”
Petramalo said the Virginia HBPA followed much of that blueprint but that another critical component is if track ownership and management possess a passion for horse racing.
“That's what we were missing in Virginia,” he said.
Rogers said Gulfstream Park's relationship with its horsemen helped it prevail in a heated battle over summer racing dates with Churchill Downs Inc., owner of what was then known as Calder. He said those races are now held at Gulfstream Park and attracting two or three times as much betting.
“Truly, we believe a healthy purse account is beneficial for us,” he said.
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