Apr. 30, 2021
I want to share encouraging news with our owners and trainers. We have been in discussion with Churchill Downs Inc. for several months, and the hours at the negotiating table have paid off with a short-term agreement that will earmark 6% of the revenue from the Calder casino to the Gulfstream Park purse account. The first payment of $1.61 million, revenue from the first four months of 2021, has already been wired to the FHBPA for distribution to the purse account.
The number one objective of the Florida HBPA is to get more money into the purse account. We want to set a goal – what should our purses look like, and how do we get there? Ultimately, we would like to see New York-type numbers for the Championship Meet, and Championship Meet numbers for the rest of the year. We have a lot of work to do to get there, but this is an encouraging development, and one we will build on.
The agreement with CDI runs through July 31, 2021. The next months will be spent working on a permanent long-term solution to increasing revenue streams for our purse account, and we will keep you posted on our progress.
Sincerely,
President Stephen Screnci, FHBPA
