Casse: Decoupling threatens thousands of small businesses

Allowing Gulfstream Park to retain its gaming licenses without a live horse-racing mandate delivers economic devastation and no benefit to Florida.

We must not compromise an industry that employs more than 33,000 people and contributes hundreds of thousands of acres of green space, particularly throughout scenic Ocala and Marion counties. Decoupling, filed in the Florida legislature as house bill 105 and senate bill 408, must be stopped for the good of the state.

Every horseman with a racing stable, breeding farm or training center operates a small business. Thousands of these labor-intensive operations are at risk if decoupling is approved to benefit one foreign company.

Gulfstream Park would not have its slots operation, launched in 2006 and last fiscal year providing $39 million in net revenue after state taxes, if not for an agreement with horsemen and a constitutional amendment providing for local approval of slots at tracks. Having slots revenue contribute to race purses is not a subsidy. It’s a component in the Thoroughbred industry ecosystem that spurs an annual economic impact of $3.24 billion.

That’s not a subsidy but a good deal for Florida.

My wife, Tina, and I operate one of the largest racing operations in North America. Last year we sent out 363 individual horses to run in 1,284 races, including 401 races at Gulfstream Park or Tampa Bay Downs. Whether they ultimately race in Florida or not, all our horses spend considerable time at our farm and training center in Ocala. In fact, as much as 75 percent of North American Thoroughbreds get their earliest preparation to become racehorses in the Ocala region.

Casse Racing has more than 200 horses spread among Ocala, Gulfstream Park and the Palm Meadows satellite training center. About 250 hard-working people, including my employees and vendors and their dependents, rely on our Florida operation for all or a significant part of their livelihoods.

Just in South Florida racing, there are probably 3,500 to 4,000 racehorses. At 4,000, you’re talking about 800 grooms, 650 to 700 hot walkers, 250 exercise riders and another 150 veterinarians, blacksmiths, assistant trainers, barn foremen and more. By any measure, it’s a huge number of jobs.

Decoupling legislation will trigger the implosion of racing in South Florida. There will be little market for Florida-bred horses, causing the collapse of countless horse farms back home in Ocala. Thousands of people will leave the state to seek employment. Our Gulfstream Park horses will similarly scatter to the year-round circuits in Kentucky and New York and to winter locales in Louisiana or Arkansas.

Ocala is home to the world’s most important 2-year-old Thoroughbred auctions, with speed a coveted export product. Six Florida-born horses have won the Kentucky Derby, more than any state outside Kentucky, and 52 have been honored as North American champions. Florida-bred Dr. Fager’s 1968 mile in 1:32:1/5 on dirt still stands as a world record.

Marion County’s 75,000-horse population, including 34,000 Thoroughbreds, is the largest of any county in America, hence Ocala’s trademarked status as Horse Capital of the World.

Thoroughbreds share a unique existence with other horse breeds. Strengthening that bond is the Roberts family’s World Equestrian Center, the largest equestrian complex in the U.S. and a global destination since opening in 2021. The Robertses have invested heavily in Ocala to make it America’s show-horse capital.

Horses account for 28,500 jobs in Marion County, more than half attributable to Thoroughbreds, according to the American Horse Council’s 2023 economic-impact study. If decoupling legislation passes, the performance-horse world would survive but be wounded without as many Thoroughbred horses and farms to support the region’s veterinarians, tack shops, feed stores and farmers growing hay and producing grain and straw.

There already are 34 variations of casinos in Florida, according to the Florida Gaming Control Commission, and more than 4,600 hotel properties. But there’s only one Ocala.

I’ve had roots in Ocala for 59 of my 64 years. I’m coming toward the end of my career, and horse racing has been exceptionally good to me. I’m not fighting for me.

My son Norman is a third-generation horse trainer. My youngest son, Colby, is 22 and wants to be a horse trainer. His girlfriend, Taylor Davis, whose mother worked for me before Taylor was born, is involved in horse racing and breeding.

They are who I’m fighting for. This is about preserving Ocala and a major Florida industry.

It’s inconceivable to me that there are Florida lawmakers who would pass legislation to benefit one person, to benefit one relatively small corporate entity while destroying an entire Florida region. An entire industry. A way of life for tens of thousands of taxpayers and small businesses that generate a $3.24 billion annual economic impact.

If decoupling legislation passes, Florida gains almost nothing and loses a lot.

Ocala-based trainer Mark Casse is a founder of the Thoroughbred Racing Initiative, created in February to fight for live horse racing, starting with South Florida. Casse is in both the North American and Canadian racing Halls of Fame.