Economic Boom Time At Hialeah Park as FQHRA-Accredited Quarter Horse Racing Thrives! 2013-2014 Season Begins November 29!

Something To Be Thankful For:  REAL Florida Quarter Horse Racing!

For weeks now, America’s biggest, most prestigious and successful Quarter Horse racing stables have been loading in to Miami-Dade’s famed Hialeah Park for its Florida Quarter Horse Racing Association (FQHRA)-sanctioned 2013-2014 winter racing meet that begins this Friday, November 29.

Accredited Quarter Horsemen From Across America Clamoring To Compete at Hialeah Park’s Fifth Consecutive Successful Quarter Horse Racing Season

For weeks now, America’s biggest, most prestigious and successful Quarter Horse racing stables have been loading in to Miami-Dade’s famed Hialeah Park for its Florida Quarter Horse Racing Association (FQHRA)-sanctioned 2013-2014 winter racing meet that begins this Friday, November 29.

Through the FQHRA’s stewardship, the vibrance and pageantry of Florida horse racing will be broadcast internationally throughout the United States and across three separate continents on a daily basis.

“We’ve got all our 830 stalls full, I’ve got some horsemen on hold, I’ve got others stabled at nearby training facilities, and even more who want to come,” Hialeah Park Racing Secretary Matt Crawford effused.

A former Texas horse racing official, Crawford has been busy recruiting accredited Quarter Horse racing stables and top trainers for the meet since he was hired by Hialeah Park earlier this year. “Our bigger stables are all coming back:  Donnie Strickland, Charlton Hunt, Judd Kearl, Brandon Muniz, Gary Walker, Alfredo Gomez, Ron David and Matt Frazier,” he said. “And most of them are bringing more horses.”

Indeed . . . horses, horses and more horses was the reason most cited by local area businesses as their biggest economic boost during Hialeah’s last season, as FQHRA-accredited horsemen rushed to hire enough employees to care for their high-dollar, high-powered racehorses, and scrambled for food, lodging, meals, equipment, gas and other supplies to carry them through the next several months of doing business in South Florida.

Hialeah Park’s fifth consecutive FQHRA meet has been described as its most successful and ambitious undertaking to date, and the upcoming 40-day program “ . . . will prove that Hialeah Park is a serious player and is working hard to establish a position of prominence in North American Quarter Horse racing,” Hialeah Park Owner and Chairman of the Board John J. Brunetti Sr. explained.

During the live racing season, Hialeah Park will also be open for simulcast wagering seven days a week, day and night. Available simulcast tracks include Betfair Hollywood Park, Santa Anita, Gulfstream Park, and many others.  To view the dozens of nationwide and international outlets that will be broadcasting Florida Quarter Horse Racing Association competition on a daily basis, click here.

The FQHRA is the Florida Chapter of the American Quarter Horse Association, an international organization of nearly 350,000 members that regulates and sanctions accredited Quarter Horse racing (or “Q-Racing”) to ensure that animal welfare and integrity remain paramount to produce a quality racing product.

AQHA-accredited Quarter Horse racing annually produces thousands of sanctioned races that amounted in 2012 to $131.5 million in purse money.  Accredited Quarter Horse racing generated more than $300 million in wagering at U.S. racetracks in 2012.

For More Information About the Florida Quarter Horse Racing Association, go to:

www.FQHRA.com

Florida Horsemen to Testify at Pensacola, Jacksonville Senate Gaming Committee Hearings This Week

Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse Racehorse Owner, Trainer and Breeder Representatives to Speak at Both November 14 and 15 Hearings

Leadership representatives from Florida’s most prominent racehorse owners, trainers and breeders associations will be on hand to testify at both Florida Senate Gaming Committee public hearings this week, Thursday, November 14 in Pensacola, and Friday, November 15 in Jacksonville.

Scheduled to speak at both hearings is Teresa Palmer, a Board member of the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (FHBPA), as well as a member of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association.  She will represent Thoroughbred owners, trainers and breeders.

At the November 15 Jacksonville hearing, Florida Quarter Horse Racing Association Board Member John Shaw will address the panel of lawmakers.   Mr. Shaw also represents the Florida Quarter Horse Breeders’ and Owners’ Association.  Both Quarter Horse organizations are part of the American Quarter Horse Association, an international organization of over 350,000 members.

“The fact that these two individuals have the degree of involvement in the Florida horse racing industry they do is a good indicator of just how far-reaching our economic impact is,” explained FHBPA Executive Director Kent Stirling.  “Our goal is to convey that to our legislators as they contemplate the implications of future public policy on our members’ businesses and their employees.”

To view the complete list of speakers and agenda for the November 14 Pensacola hearing, click HERE.

To view the complete list of speakers and agenda for the November 15 Jacksonville hearing, click HERE.

Both hearings will be Webcast LIVE on www.TheFloridaChannel.org and on the Florida Senate video page at www.flsenate.gov/Media/#broadcast

Florida Thoroughbred Breeding Industry CEO Speaks at Senate Gaming Committee Today After Florida-Bred “Mucho Macho Man’s” Weekend Victory in Horse Racing Super Bowl

FTBOA’s Lonny Powell: “Thoroughbred people with major investments in the industry don’t like being treated like potted plants”

Less than 48 hours after a thrilling victory in the Super Bowl of Thoroughbred racing by Florida-bred horse “Mucho Macho Man,” the CEO of Florida’s Thoroughbred breeding industry will speak before the Florida Senate Gaming Committee at its third public hearing on the Spectrum Gaming Study today, November 4.

Lonny Powell, a former horse racing regulator now CEO of the powerful Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association, works closely with the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (Florida Thoroughbred owners and trainers, “FHBPA”), the Florida Quarter Horse Racing Association and the Florida Quarter Horse Breeders and Owners Association on legislative and regulatory issues affecting the groups statewide.

“It’s fitting that Lonny speak to our Senators today, right on the heels of a Florida-bred having won the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic this weekend–the Super Bowl of Thoroughbred racing,” said FHBPA Executive Director Kent Stirling.  “Were it any other sport, today would be a day warranting a ticker-tape parade in Tallahassee, over which Lonny would be appropriately presiding as Grand Marshal.”

Powell is scheduled to speak today during the Florida Senate Gaming Committee public hearing in Tallahassee, the third edition of which drew a much smaller slate of speakers than the previous hearings.  To view the list of speakers, click here.

“It’s time for Florida’s elected officials to recognize our horse racing and breeding industry–an engine that moves enormous sums of money and commerce throughout the world–with Florida’s agribusiness backbone providing jobs and fueling business well beyond the substantially more limited promise of a casino-only scenario,” Stirling explained.

Today’s hearing runs from noon until 3 p.m. and will be webcast live on www.TheFloridaChannel.org.

Mucho Macho Man, who was bred at Adena Springs South in Ocala, garnered major worldwide media acclaim on behalf of his birth state of Florida.  Some of the headlines are below:

Washington Post:  Mucho Macho Man holds on to win Breeders’ Cup Classic in photo finish

USA Today:  Breeders’ Cup Classic win caps magic month for Mucho Macho Man

Chicago Tribune:  Mucho Macho Man gives trainer a win to savour

ESPN:  Mucho Macho Man wins by nose