 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
BACK TO HEADLINES |
||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
| Indianapolis Star July 8, 2006 Hoosier Horse Breeding is Racing Downhill Industry's numbers have steadily fallen since Indiana Downs opened in 2002. By Michael Pointer Randy Graf's practical side tells him it's time to give up. But growing up on a farm in southeastern Indiana taught him patience. Hog prices might be low one year, but scale back on operations and you might miss out on a boom period the next. He's taking the same approach to a small thoroughbred breeding operation he started when Hoosier Park in Anderson opened in 1994. "If not, I would be out of it already," said Graf, who lives in Memphis, Ind., and is vice president of the Indiana Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. Others aren't as patient. Ed Martin Jr., a longtime, prominent Indiana owner and breeder, has moved nearly his entire operation to a farm he owns near Ocala, Fla. He has no plans to return -- unless Indiana adopts alternative gaming within the tracks to supplement purses. "Right now, there's really no incentive (to breed in Indiana) unless you can't afford to do it out of state and have to breed in your backyard," said Martin, a former partner in a local automobile dealership that bears his father's name. Falling numbers The number of Indiana-bred foals for thoroughbreds has plummeted by more than 40 percent since Indiana Downs in Shelbyville opened in 2002. Standardbred births also have dropped by about 20 percent. Swifty Farm in Seymour, the state's leading breeder, has 35 mares this year -- about half what it once had, general manager Mort Shirazi said. It has shifted most of its operations to Kentucky. Owners and breeders blame the trend on stagnant or falling race purses at the state's two tracks. Many were pleased when Indiana Downs opened because it provided additional racing dates. They thought the opening would spur the General Assembly to pass legislation allowing pull-tab machines inside the tracks to strengthen race purses. That hasn't happened. Some legislators have cited a reluctance to expand legalized gambling. Many horsemen blame it on the opposition of once-powerful state senators Lawrence M. Borst and Robert D. Garton. Without growing purses, horsemen say there's no enticement for new investors to enter the industry -- or old ones to stay. "From an economic point of view, you don't want something to slide into oblivion before you try to rescue it," said Dwayne Ruhle, a standardbred breeder and owner from Pendleton, Ind. No incentive to breed Horse racing's potential economic benefits were touted when legislation allowing pari-mutuel wagering was passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by then-Gov. Evan Bayh in 1992. A 2001 study conducted by Purdue University and authorized by the Indiana Horse Racing Commission said the industry pumped about $130 million into the state's economy from 1994-99. All that was largely based on a healthy breeding industry and its trickledown effect on the state's agribusiness, however. That was the case then. It isn't now. "It's the breeding industry that really touches almost every county in the state,'' said Joe Gorajec, executive director of the Indiana Horse Racing Commission. The state's breeding program flourished during the late 1990s. The number of Indiana-breds increased on an almost annual basis as a lucrative riverboat subsidy allowed purses to grow at Hoosier Park. The racing commission awarded Oliver Racing LLC a license to build Indiana Downs in Shelbyville in 2001, and the track opened in December 2002. Racing dates increased, but the riverboat subsidy -- which is capped at about $28 million -- was being split between two tracks. No help from the General Assembly was forthcoming. Without the pull tabs or another alternative form of gaming to support purses, horsemen believe Indiana's breeding industry will continue to suffer -- and the state might be forced to give up on racing all together. "The states that don't have a mature breeding industry and where purses aren't real high, those states really need to have revenue coming in from (video lottery terminals) or (slots and pull-tabs),'' said Mark Simon, editor and president of Thoroughbred Times, a trade industry publication based in Lexington, Ky. Graf and other horsemen can only wait. He said the 50-acre farm and a series of greenhouses his family owns are paying the bills for his horse operation. Hoosier Park president Rick Moore said the track has been able to maintain full fields, but agrees the falling number of Indiana-breds shows an industry in trouble. "Breeding operations drying up are not a good thing,'' he said. Dropping back Number of registered Indiana thoroughbred foals since 2001, the year the Indiana Horse Racing Commission gave permission to developers to build Indiana Downs in Shelbyville. The track opened in December 2002. • 2001: 551. • 2002: 552. • 2003: 531. • 2004: 435. • 2005: 322. The number of registered Indiana standardbred foals during that same period. • 2001: 1,212. • 2002: 1,168. • 2003: 1,106. • 2004: 977. Average daily thoroughbred purses at Hoosier Park during that period and race days. • 2001: $168,168 -- 70. • 2002: $177,390 - 68. • 2003: $115,982 - 70 • 2004: $144,756 -- 59. • 2005: $162,953 -- 57. Average daily standardbred purses at Hoosier Park during that period. • 2001: $94,564 - 123. • 2002: $149,606 -- 90. • 2003: $102,746 -- 50 • 2004: $112,115. -- 60. • 2005: $118,994. -- 61. Average daily thoroughbred purses at Indiana Downs during that period. (Track did not open until December 2002.) • 2002: no thoroughbred meet. • 2003: $113,656 -- 30. • 2004: $85,414 -- 48. • 2005: $91,881 -- 47. Average daily standardbred purses at Indiana Downs during that period. • 2002: $84,310 -- 19. • 2003: $75,402 -- 100. • 2004: $78,699 -- 82. • 2005: $78,862 -- 82.  |
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
||||||
 |
|
 |
||||
 |
||||||
 |
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|