Bickering between the Texas Racing Commission and Legislative Budget Board could mean the beginning of the end for horse racing in Texas. — Standard-Radio Post file photo
By Ken Esten Cooke —
The Texas Racing Commission ceased operations Tuesday and directed racetracks across the state to halt all live and broadcast racing.
The TRC, which regulates horse and dog racing in Texas, notified tracks Monday night that it did not have the funds to continue to operate. Earlier Monday, the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) said it would fund the TRC for three months after a showdown in a hearing last week.
For Gillespie County, the change could signal the beginning of the end for live horse racing.
Gillespie Downs finished its live racing season on Aug. 23, but it relies on betting at the Race Barn to help build up purses to attract horse owners and riders to compete in live summer races.
The Race Barn, which also operates a full restaurant and bar, cannot show simulcast racing for now.
“Live racing season is over for us,” said Lee DeLong, who has been mutuels manager for the Gillespie County Fair and Festival Association’s horse-racing operation for 17 years. “But the Race Barn generates purse money for us. If we don’t have any purses when we run live next year, we’ll have trouble attracting horses and racers.”
The Race Barn was started in partnership between GCFFA and Gulf Greyhound Racing in Houston and Galveston.
Disputes between legislators and commission members over “historical racing” led to a showdown, which could eventually lead to a shutdown of racing industry operations around the state.
A TRC spokesman said Monday he hoped any shutdown would be “brief and temporary.”
The commission’s $7.7-million annual budget comes from licensing and fees paid by the race tracks, but the LBB must appropriate the money.
Several senators, including Dist. 24 Sen. Troy Fraser, lobbied against funding the TRC due to opposition to historical racing, in which old races are replayed and bet upon again without identifying information.
But supporters of the measure claimed tracks need the additional revenue provided by historical racing. They also claimed the senators’ opposition was influenced by out-of-state gambling interests.
Local effects
DeLong said if the standstill continues, live racing could be in jeopardy.
“If next year, we have to come up with the purses, there goes our scholarships,” he said. “It’s getting almost to the point where it’s not doable with all the regulations and fees.”
Still, even for a small track like Gillespie Downs, with a limited race season, the effects would be felt.
“A lot of people don’t think about that it’s not just the race track or horsemen, it’s the feed stores, guys growing hay and lots of others,” DeLong said. “It’s a big industry.”
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